I Thought She Was Dead
by H2O4ever
Summary: A year after Bella Hartley disappears, Emma, Cleo and Rikki aren't friends anymore. During their senior year, the girls start to get mysterious messages signed by "B." Who is this? It can't be...Based on Pretty Little Liars. Rated T for slight swearing.
1. Prologue: Bella and Emma, The Enemies

**A/N: So this is the story I told you that would probably have a sequel. In my other story, ****Secrets of the Deep****, I said in there that this would be a mystery. So if you like mysteries, please read. I want this story to be detailed, so I have no idea about the rate of updates. For this story to work, Emma didn't leave during her senior year. She left a year before. Everything in H2O happened, but a year earlier. This story takes place during their senior year. Here is the summary:**

Summary: A year after Bella Hartley vanishes; Emma, Cleo and Rikki all are separated. They don't talk to each other any more, and it is their senior year. They all begin to get mysterious messages from some anonymous source called, "B." Together they have to find out who is sending these messages to them and what really happened that night Bella vanished. Based upon "Pretty Little Liars."

So, this chapter will be a prologue. It is a year earlier than when the story takes place, and it is also the night Bella vanishes. This chapter will be in 3rd POV, but the remaining chapters will be in different people's POVs. The story will be based upon the books "Pretty Little Liars," because of the messages signed by "B." Don't worry; the endings are not the same. Read to find out more. I made a trailer for it, it's at: http:/www(dot)youtube(dot)com/watch?v=FoIn6yKoyT4 Go and watch it please! Replace the (dot)s with actual dots (.)

PS: Pray for Japan! :(

Prologue: Bella and Emma, The Enemies

-Third POV-

"Hey, Bells," an ecstatic Cleo said, opening the door to reveal none other than Bella Hartley, suitcase in her hand. Her dirty blonde hair was tousled to perfection and draped on her shoulders, which really brought out the pretty blue color in her eyes, which, evidentially, matched her crystal blue tank top. Her ripped dark jeans were a simple touch to flair up her outfit. Bella Hartley looked good in anything.

"Come on in," Cleo said, stepping away from the warmth seeping into the hallway. "Rikki is already here picking out some movies we can watch tonight. We can go and help."

"Great," said Bella, stepping into the doorway. The surroundings were so familiar that she could have called it her own home. Cleo led her down the hallway, where Bella dropped her stuff on Cleo's couch. They then joined Rikki, who was quietly shuffling through the movies.

"Hey, guys," said Rikki, looking up to see the two figures enter the doorway. "Bella! Glad you could come."

"Of course!" said Bella, all smiles. "It's great to go to a sleepover that doesn't involve a full moon and getting moonstruck. Plus, it helps me get my mind off of..." Bella instantly shut up and her eyes trailed to the countertop as if she had revealed too much already. "Nothing."

"Get your mind off of what?" Rikki asked, her eyes leaving the huge stack of DVDs and going to Bella. "You can tell us. We're best friends."

"Okay," Bella said, looking up, her smile returning full center on her lips. "You're right. We're friends. See, I had a fight with Will today."

"What about?" Cleo asked, leaning on the table with her elbows, her hand cupping her chin in the right direction so that she was looking deep into Bella's endless blue eyes.

"Just something stupid. I'm sure we'll make up tomorrow." Bella instantly got off the touchy subject by directing her eyes to the two large pizza boxes sitting on the table. "What kind of pizza are those?"

"Uh," Cleo said, dumbly looking at Rikki. Rikki shrugged, signaling that if Bella didn't want to talk about it, they probably shouldn't bring it up. Cleo looked at the pizza boxes and pointed to the one on the right. "Cheese pizza," she said, and then pointed to the left. "Pepperoni and mushroom."

"Dibs on a slice of cheese," Bella said, smiling. She scooted closer to the cheese box.

"As long as I get pepperoni and mushroom!" hollered Rikki.

"You two are so full of it," Cleo said, grinning. She got out a huge stack of paper plates and some cups. She set them down on the table. "We can eat after we set everything up."

"What's there to set up?" groaned an obviously hungry Rikki.

"Our sleeping bags. And we still have to pick out a couple movies to watch," Cleo said, picking up the heavy stack of movies. "How about we each pick one?"

"Two," challenged Bella, laughing. "We're staying up all night, right?"

"I guess," said Cleo. "I don't really think it matters."

"Then we'll stay up all night." Bella's word was final.

The girls all scooted closer together and pawed through the thick stack. Once they were almost done choosing movies, Cleo's dad walked in. "Hey, girls, I have a big surprise for you."

"What is it, Mr. Sertori?" Rikki asked, backing away from the movies.

"Come with me," he said, and the girls followed him upstairs, down the hall, and found themselves facing a wooden door.

"The closet, dad?" Cleo said. She shifted her weight to her other foot. "That's nice and all dad, but I know what the inside of the closet looks like."

Bella and Rikki laughed lightly, not wanting to hurt Cleo's or her dad's feelings.

"Cleo, why don't you look inside?" Don said, pushing his daughter lightly towards the closet. Cleo looked back at the others, confusion clearly written across her face. But Cleo obeyed her dad, and swung open the closet door.

Gasps came out of all of the girl's mouths; not expecting what was in the closet. The most they were expecting was a new vacuum—it wouldn't be that unusual, because adults seemed to usually get worked up over nothing. What they didn't expect was a real live human standing there!

She was holding a suitcase in her hand, which brushed up against her beige long pants. She was wearing a sky blue T-Shirt with yellow cursive written on it, advertising some swim academy. Her blue flip flips with yellow Hawaiian flowers printed all over them matched her shirt. The girl's straight blonde hair was pulled back into a ponytail and a blue barrette was pinned in her hair. Her blue eyes danced with excitement as she looked over Cleo, Rikki and Bella.

Cleo let out a high-pitched squeal that made everyone jump. Rikki blinked rapidly, as if trying to decide if the person in front of her were real. Bella was just plain confused; who was this girl and why was she lounging in Cleo's closet?

"Emma?" shouted an excited Cleo. "Is it really you?"

"You think I'm some illusion?" Emma asked, and spread out her arms for a hug.

Cleo ran into her arms and with a few ounces of adrenaline she gained from being shocked at the sudden appearance of Emma in the closet, she lifted Emma into the air and spun her around until they were both dizzy.

Once Emma was lowered onto the ground, Rikki stepped up to Emma and looked over her, not saying a word. It was obvious that she was intrigued by how Emma had changed: she had gotten tanner, taller, and her hair was about two inches shorter. Her freckles appeared darker and stood out more on her cheeks, and her blue eyes seemed to get even bluer, if that we even possible. Emma's hair had also gone from her bleach blonde state to a little dirtier with some dark highlights.

"Rikki," whispered Emma, looking at Rikki. Rikki nodded slowly, not sure how to react to the arrival of Emma. Could it be true? Was Emma really back? Had it really been a whole year?

"Emma," Rikki whispered back, and then broke out in a full out grin. Rikki stepped forward and squeezed Emma so tightly that Emma had to signal to her that she was running out of air. When the two were done hugging, Emma, Cleo and Rikki all formed a little circle, each girl jumping up and down and excitedly chatting about the events that had occurred without each other, leaving Bella completely out of the conversation.

"I'll let you girls catch up," Don said, slowly backing away from the circle of girls.

Emma also stepped back and waved to Don. "Thanks so much for setting this up, Mr. Sertori!" Emma called giddily. "I owe you one!"

"Don't mention it," Don said, waving her off, and went to his room, clearly having no interest in their girl sleepover.

That was when Emma realized that there was a strange girl that she didn't know, just standing there, watching them with silent curiosity. Emma pushed a piece of her now shorter hair behind her ear and, turning to the mysterious blonde, said, trying to be polite, "Oh, I'm sorry. I'm Emma Gilbert." Emma extended her hand to Bella.

Bella examined her hand, as if examining it for germs. After a while, seeing as Emma would not put it down, she grasped it with a little more firmness than needed. "I'm Bella Hartley." And if claiming territory, she added, "Cleo and Rikki's best friend."

"Oh," Emma said, not shocked at all. Emma wasn't stupid; she had realized that if some other girl was there, than it was because they were friends. But the way Bella said best friends, as if telling her to back off, and that they were hers, really made her a little bit mad. "Ah, I was their friends also," she said, as if Rikki and Cleo weren't standing there. "We went through...a lot together," continued Emma, not wanting to give out their secret.

Cleo, oblivious to the awkwardness, laughed. "Guys, it's okay. Bella, Emma is a..." Cleo started, but then turned her attention to the door at the end of the hall that held Cleo's dad. Not wanting to say the word, "mermaid," and risk their secret being blown to Don, Cleo finished, "Uh, why don't we talk about this elsewhere? Like, downstairs? I have pizza, snacks, and movies!"

The girls all reluctantly agreed and went downstairs. When they were all situated on Cleo's comfy couch, Cleo said, "Like I was saying, Bella, Emma's a mermaid."

"Cleo!" Emma shouted, instantly bolting upright. "How could you?"

"Don't worry," said a too joyous Cleo. "Bella's a mermaid too."

"Really?" Emma said, obviously a little too curious. It seemed to upset her a bit that once she left, the girls found another mermaid friend. Or as Bella put it, another mermaid best friend.

"I didn't know you were a mermaid," Bella said. "Or that Cleo and Rikki knew a mermaid before me."

"Well, it just so happens that we all turned into mermaids together. We've been through everything," Emma said, smiling. This Bella chick was starting to get on her nerves.

"Obviously not everything, since you abandoned them," Bella retorted, batting her eyes innocently as if Emma had brought these cruel things upon herself. Before Emma could say anything else, Bella added, "I'm also positive that you guys didn't save the world from a comet that was hurtling towards Earth. Because Cleo, Rikki and I did."

Emma, not buying the phony innocent façade that Bella put up against her true center, shot back, "We were actually captured by a scientist. But, together, we escaped."

"Caught by a scientist? That's a big no-no of being a mermaid," said Bella, as if talking to a child. "How reckless of you."

"It wasn't my fault," Emma said, raising her voice a bit. Emma hated heated arguments like this, but someone stealing your best friends and then calling her "reckless," did not go in her book. "I'm just saying..."

"Guys!" screeched Rikki. "Stop it! Okay? You guys are both our friends! We aren't going to choose one over the other, and you guys need to accept that and learn to live with each other, okay? Now can we please just watch a movie or something?"

Both girls crossed their arms angrily, each wanting nothing to do with each other. But for Cleo and Rikki, they agreed.

Darkness quickly fell as they changed into their pajamas and ate pizza for dinner. When they all situated themselves onto the Cleo's couch (Rikki and Cleo in the middle between Emma and Bella, of course) Cleo slapped herself on the forehead. "How could I be so stupid?"

"What?" Emma said, worried for her friend.

Bella, not wanting to be excluded from the conversation, asked, "Yeah, what is it Cleo?" followed by a glare from Emma.

"I forgot the popcorn! How could I be so clueless? Popcorn is essential to a sleepover!" Cleo said, racking her brain for what she did bring: soda, candy, pizza, movies...how could she forget the popcorn?

"Oh, don't worry Cleo," Emma said. She turned and rummaged through her cute purple suitcase that she had bought while in Japan during her world tour. When her hand came out of the suitcase, she was clutching a few bags of un-popped popcorn. "I brought some just in case we needed any more."

"Ah, that's out Emma," Rikki said, jokingly elbowing her. "Always prepared."

When Cleo and Rikki weren't looking, Emma shot a smug smile in the direction of Bella. Bella just narrowed her eyes at Emma and shook her head, as if saying, You may think you've won, but the battle isn't over until someone comes out a winner.

Cleo went and put in the popcorn in the microwave. She listened to the steady hum of the microwave and as the faint popping of the popcorn began to become a loud uproar of hard brown kernels turning into deliciously lightly buttered popcorn.

Cleo dared a glance at the oven: 12:52 pm. Had it really been that long? She hoped that the microwave going wouldn't wake her dad or Kim. If Cleo even cared about Kim that much.

Once the flat bag had turned into a fluffed out steaming bag of popcorn, she opened the bag and let the steam roll out of the top. Funny, it kind of reminded Cleo of Rikki's heat ability.

Cleo went to popping another bag of popcorn—there were four girls, after all. Once that bag was done, she dumped that into a bowl, and then took the first bag that was newly cooled and threw it in another. She decided that two girls could share a bowl, but wouldn't have Emma and Bella share a bowl.

Cleo returned to the girls with the bowls in her two hands. She gave Rikki and Bella a green microwave safe bowl filled to the brim with popcorn. She then nestled the remaining blue bowl between herself and Emma.

"So, what movie should we watch first?" Rikki said, revealing that she had had the movies with her the whole time they'd arrived on the couch. "Breakfast at Tiffany's or Sixteen Candles?"

"Anything but Breakfast at Tiffany's," groaned Emma. "That brat Charlotte loved that movie. I never really cared for it. Let's watch Sixteen Candles."

"Hey now," Bella said. "Breakfast at Tiffany's is a great movie, thank you very much. I hate Sixteen Candles."

Emma, her anger now boiling to a high, which was unusual for such a calm and well-mannered person, said, "Well, I hate you."

Gasps escaped the lips of Cleo, Rikki and Bella. Rikki and Cleo knew how calm Emma could be, and that was unexpected and not Emma-like. Bella, now angry and not backing down, said, "Take that back." Her tone really scared and sent chills down Cleo and Rikki's spine.

"You make me," Emma said. The fight was unusual, no yelling, no violence, just soft and hurtful words. But sometimes those hurt the most.

Bella couldn't take it anymore. If that was what it would take to keep Cleo and Rikki's long lasting friendship, then it was just not worth it. Hot tears rolled down Bella's cheeks as she got up, and stormed to the back door. The girls followed in hot pursuit.

"Fine," Bella whispered, her face towards the back door. The girls were a few feet behind her. Bella turned around, her tears smudging her mascara and making it run all over the place. "Then remember this, Emma Gilbert: I hate you too. I always will. Nothing will change that." With that, she spun around and wrenched the door open, so fast and hard that Cleo feared that it would come off at its hinges. She turned back to the girls. "Enjoy your friendship, bitches, because it won't last," Bella hissed venomously. She stepped into the cold and eerie night, the silence as strong as the silence between Emma and Bella. "I will always hate you! Always!" chanted Bella, and she slammed the door, stomping off into the night.

"Oh my God," Emma said, falling to her knees. She cupped her face in her hands, and choked sobs escaped. "What have I done? I usually wouldn't do that, but I was so mad, my emotions were just—"

"No, shh, Emma," Cleo said, kneeling down to Emma. She stroked her hair comfortingly. "Don't worry. I don't blame you or her for acting the way you guys did."

Rikki kneeled down by Emma, also, and started to rub her back. "Exactly. By tomorrow, we will get you guys together, and you can sort out your differences—if you're willing, that is."

"You sure?" said Emma, taking her hands off her face. She had stopped crying.

"Definitely," Rikki said. "You just watch."

At that moment, a clap of thunder and a roll of lightning was heard and seen out the window. The girls shrieked in terror, and hoped that Don and Kim hadn't heard them. No rain fell from the heavens, though. Yet.

"God, Bella's out there," Emma said, finally standing up. "What if she gets struck by lightning or something? It would be all my fault!"

"No, it wouldn't," Cleo said, trying to sooth the still distressed Emma.

"Well, I have to go and find her. I don't care how much she hates me, I have to at least try and persuade her to come in." Emma stood and swiped a yellow flashlight off of Cleo's table that had a few cracks in it, and looked like it had been through a lot.

"Wait," Rikki said, running up to Emma, who was heading out the door. "Let us come with you."

"No," said a firm Emma. "This is my fault, and I have to pay the price by going to find her. I have to hurry guys, she's getting away!"

"Please, Emma," Cleo said. "It'll be better with three people. We can find her faster." Cleo grabbed a hot pink jacket that was hanging up on a coat rack by the door. "Just give us a second to get on our shoes."

"No!" Emma howled, which made Rikki and Cleo stop cold. "That will take too long! Please guys, I have to do this." Without waiting for so much as an answer, Emma took off.

Rikki and Cleo went over to the side window to see Emma slicing through the dark of the night, with only the light of the flashlight guiding her way. They watched her mouth repeat a word over and over again that they could only guess by lip reading as much as they could in the dark: it looked like she was saying Bella. They watched as she went farther and farther away from the house, her figure growing smaller and smaller and the light growing dimmer and dimmer until they could no longer see either.

"I can't see her anymore!" cried an exasperated Cleo as she shut the blinds: what was the point of keeping them open? She couldn't see Emma so keeping them open would only make her more distressed.

"She might be a while; Bella's a hard character to persuade," Rikki said soothingly. "Let's look on the bright side: she's probably convinced Bella, and they are heading here right now!"

"I hope," Cleo said, and stuffed a handful of popcorn into her dry mouth to stop the feeling of dread starting in the pit of her stomach.

Ten minutes later, Cleo was really anxious, and was seconds away from bolting up and running out into the blackness of the night to find the girls. Even Rikki, the calm and sturdy one, was getting antsy.

"That's it!" cried Cleo, jumping up. "I can't take it anymore!" Cleo ran to the door and swiped the last remaining flashlight off the countertop. "I'm going to go find them!"

The back door then suddenly swung open. The girls screamed, watching a dark figure stagger into the house and switch off her flashlight.

"Shut up!" barked a hoarse Emma. She seemed really different from when she left, as if something out there changed her.

"Well?" asked anxious Cleo, ready to claw into the details of where Bella was.

"I couldn't find her!" admitted Emma, picking a dry brown leaf out of her dirty blonde hair. She brushed her hands together, trying to get some sticky mud off her hands.

"What happened to you?" Cleo asked, looking Emma up and down. She looked like a train wreck. Emma was caked in mud, grass and leaves, as if she was looking for Bella underground. Cleo also noticed a bunch of bleeding scrapes on her hands, and a cut on her arm.

"I fell," said an embarrassed Emma. As she observed herself, she added, "Multiple times. It's slippery out there."

"I see," Rikki said. "Here, Cleo and I will go look for Bella a bit more. If we can't find her, we'll call the police, 'kay?"

Emma shifted uncomfortably. "What about me? I can help."

"Not now. You go and clean up, okay? You need to get the dirt out of those cuts," Cleo said. She flickered on the light and asked Rikki, "Ready to go?"

"Not without me," said Emma firmly. "Remember? It's my fault! So I go too. I'll risk an infection in the cuts if it means finding Bella."

"Alright," sighed Rikki. She turned to Cleo. "Got another flashlight?"

"No, sorry," Cleo apologized. "You want to make a torch or something with your powers?"

"Nah, I can go with Emma," Rikki said. "Just in case she has a concussion or something for falling so much."

"Thanks," said Emma sarcastically, even though deep down she was touched that Rikki cared so deeply, and didn't disagree with the fact that she might have a concussion. "Well, are we going to go, or wait around here for Bella to get struck with some lightning?"

So the girls set out to look. Rikki did end up lighting a torch with her powers to provide more light, but she didn't leave Emma's side. And Emma didn't attempt to leave Rikki's side.

They searched for about an hour, just until Emma was about to collapse for exhaustion and maybe even a possible concussion. But they still trudged ahead.

"What direction was she headed in?" asked Rikki, flashing the light of the torch towards the east.

"I don't know, straight!" Cleo said, shining her flashlight ahead. "Do you think she went to the ocean?"

"No, she's smarter than that," Rikki said, looking behind some trees to where she might be hiding, watching them. Or maybe someone else was watching them. That thought sent shivers down her spine.

"Smarter than what?" Emma asked, her tone unusual and different from her usual tone.

"Than to go swimming in this pitch black nothingness," Rikki said, looking at Emma.

"Guys, are we going to be looking much longer?" Emma asked.

"I don't know," Rikki said, flashing the light from her torch to get a good look at Emma. "Why?"

Emma winced from the sudden brightness that hit her eyes, and covered up her eyes with her hands, in a sort of 'stop' position.

"Wait, Emma, don't..." Rikki started, but it was too late. Emma had put out the fire accidentally with her freezing abilities.

"Great," Rikki groaned, but re-lit the torch.

"Sorry," Emma said, her words a little bit slurred. "I just have a headache, and that didn't help."

"You have a headache?" said a surprised Cleo. She rushed over to the others, and asked Rikki, "Do you think she has a concussion or something?"

"No, I don't," Emma said matter-of-factly. "I'm just...just..." The words didn't seem to come out correctly. Emma stumbled forward a bit, her footing wobbly. Then, she came crashing down.

"Emma!" cried the girls, their screams piercing through the night like and arrow. They rushed and kneeled down by the woozy Emma, who was on her knees.

"I'm...fine," she said. "I just have a headache, is all."

Rikki turned to Cleo. "Let's get back to your house, okay? This isn't worth it. We can call the police and they can take care of it. We need to get Emma back to the house."

"I'm fine," repeated Emma over and over again as Cleo and Rikki lugged her back to the house. Between her repeating that, she kept saying, "Bella. We must find Bella."

"Not tonight," Rikki said, helping Emma back to the house so she wouldn't fall again. "She probably was just trying to hitch hike back to her house. The police will make sure everything's okay, don't worry." It sounded like she was trying to convince herself more than Emma.

"But I'm fine. We must find Bella," insisted a confused Emma for about the fifteenth time that night.

Ignoring Emma fully now, Cleo said, "Her stuff is still at my house. We can give it to the police." Rikki quickly agreed.

When they reached Cleo's house, Rikki put out the torch, and threw the thick charred stick out into the yard. They then brought Emma into the safe, warm house.

Emma, now realizing that they wouldn't be searching anymore, snatched Cleo's phone. "Let's call the police, then."

"She really feels guilty," Cleo said, looking at Rikki.

Rikki looked back and nodded sadly. "I wish that she didn't feel that way, though."

Cleo went over to Emma and took the phone from her hands. "I'll do that," she said. "But first you need ice."

Together, Rikki and Cleo washed Emma's wounds so that no more dirt got into them. Then they bandaged them, and gave Emma an ice pack, which she gratefully took and held to her head.

Emma soon fell asleep about a half an hour later, around three in the morning.

"You going to call the police?" Rikki asked, motioning to the phone that was sitting on Cleo's table.

"At three in the morning? I don't think dad would appreciate the police at our front door at this time in the morning," whispered Cleo, not wanting to disturb Don and Kim. She was amazed that they hadn't woken up yet. "I just said that so Emma would fall asleep easier. I'll call the police tomorrow. She's probably at her house, asleep while we're still up. And if Emma is still bad, we'll tell her mom to take her to a doctor. Trust me Rikki, everything will work out just fine."

"Okay," Rikki said, deciding to trust Cleo. "Let's just go to bed, okay? I'm exhausted."

So the girls spent a sleepless night on Cleo's couch.

A/N: I hope you all enjoyed the (long) prologue! The next chapter will kind of be a conclusion to the prologue, because you need to read what happens after that night. Remember that in this mystery, even the smallest things could be a major clue. So thanks for reading! Next chapter up IDK when. Ciao!


	2. Prologue cont: Aftermath

**A/N: So this is like a continued version of the prologue. I really hope you enjoy. Thanks for all the alerts and reviews, they made me smile :). Just so you guys know, I'm officially on spring break! Yay! Today (Monday) in the afternoon I'm leaving and coming back Tuesday night, so I figured I'd just update now. Enjoy!**

**Prologue (cont.): Aftermath**

_**-Emma POV-**_

My splitting headache did not easily subside with my awakening.

When I woke up, warn sunlight was streaming through the window and onto me, as if trying to tell me that nothing was wrong in the world, and absolutely nothing was stopping me from dropping back into my continuous slumber forever. But a nagging feeling in my stomach told me to get up, and get the others up.

I slowly got up, and an explosion of pain burst in my skull like a thousand firecrackers on the 4th of July. I groaned as I put a hand to my head. I glanced down at my other hand, which felt unusually cold.

My other hand was clutching a small bag filled with ice-cold water; I assumed it used to be filled with ice cubes that had melted. I took the ice bag and put it on my head to sooth my headache.

I was amazed that I was able to get up off the couch and walk around. I needed to go to the bathroom bad, so I wobbled to there.

When I was done, I looked at myself in the mirror, and it told all I had not to gasp. A bruise was blooming on the right of my forehead, and there was a bandage on my arm. My hair was messed up, and I looked horrible.

I walked out of the bathroom steadily—or at least I tried to be steady. I was still pretty dizzy. It was almost like a hangover.

I drained the cold water out of the plastic bag and filled it again with ice. I put it to my throbbing head and tried to coo it to get better.

I silently walked over to where Rikki and Cleo were passed out cold, all toppled on top of each other. I kneeled down next to them and gently shook them and told them to wake up.

Cleo's eyes fluttered open and looked around the room, where her eyes landed on me. "Emma?" she asked. Cleo sat up and shook Rikki awake. "Rikki, wake up," she urgently cooed.

"Five more minutes," Rikki said groggily, stirring slightly to the sound of her name.

"No, Rikki, wake up _now_," Cleo said, shaking her firmly. "We need to call the police."

"Huh?" I said, looking at Cleo. "Why do we have to call the police?"

"Sorry, Em, I know we promised to call yesterday night, but it was like, three in the morning," Cleo said apologetically.

"What?" I asked, now _really_ confused.

"You don't remember?" said Cleo, surprised.

Rikki sat up on the couch, propping herself up on her elbows. "You really don't remember?"

"Not really," I said honestly. "Was there a full moon? Was I moonstruck?"

"No," Cleo said. "There wasn't a full moon. And we were having a sleepover with Bella?"

"Bella?" I asked, not struck with any remembrance. Then it hit me. "Oh, _Bella_," I said, my tone even. "She...she got lost, right?"

"Yeah, then you tried to find her," Rikki added. "And you fell a couple times."

"That's probably why she didn't remember," Cleo said, finally getting it. "She hit her head and got a concussion. Does it still hurt?"

"Yeah," I said, shuffling the ice in the bag by squeezing the bag. I wasn't holding the bag to my head anymore because it was making my skin go numb. But my head was still throbbing so I replaced it on my forehead.

"Why don't I call Bella's parents?" Cleo offered. "To see if Bella is there. If she is, we don't have to bother calling the police."

"And if she's not there?" I asked, moving the bag of ice to another place on my head.

"I'll call the police," Cleo said. "We'll get this whole thing sorted out, you'll see."

I sat down on her couch as Cleo got up and marched to her home phone nestled in a charging tower on her countertop. She picked it up and dialed a number super fast from her memory; probably from all that texting. She held it up to her ear and bit her lip as she waited anxiously for someone to pick up. After about the fourth ring, she started talking, which could only mean someone picked up.

I rested my head back on a pillow, which was huddled in a corner of the couch. I heard Cleo said, "Hi, Mrs. Hartley? This is Cleo...yes. I was just calling to ask if Bella was at your house...I know. Yeah, but she stormed out of the house, and when we went to look we couldn't find her...Yes. Yeah, I will do so. Ten minutes? Okay. Good bye."

"What did she say?" Rikki asked, standing up while I sat relaxed and sprawled out on her couch.

"Was she there?" I asked, shifting the ice bag again. I regained some of my memory to remember that her running away was partly my fault, and I was really upset.  
"No," Cleo said sadly, letting out a deep breath. I groaned, and buried my face in the pillow.

"Then what did she say?" asked Rikki.

"She said to call the police. Mrs. and Mr. Hartley are coming over, they said about ten minutes." Cleo sat down next to me and took a few deep breaths. She then whipped out the phone again, and started to press the "0" when I stopped her.

"No, Cleo, I'll call the police. It's my fault, and I really don't think you could handle it very easily," I said, trying to be comforting.

"Okay," Cleo said, hesitating at first. She handed over the phone to I, who then proceeded to dial "000."

I waited as the phone rang twice, then someone picked up. "Australian Emergency Department, what is your emergency?"

"Uh, hi," I said. I had never called 000 before, so I had no idea if you were supposed to greet each other. "My name is Emma Gilbert. Yesterday night, my...uh..._friend_, Bella Hartley, went missing. We were having a sleepover, and she got mad because...private reasons. And she just stormed off, and we couldn't find her. And she wasn't at her house, either."

"Has it been twenty four hours?" the gruff male voice asked.

I gritted my teeth. "_No_. Like I said, it happened yesterday night..."

"Sorry sweetheart, we can't do any thing for a missing person unless it has been twenty four hours." I instantly despised him, whoever he was. He sounded like he didn't care for our needs and would do anything to get off manning the hotlines.

"I'm not your sweetheart!" I yelled. I glanced at Rikki, and we exchanged timid remembering smiles, when we thought about when Rikki was tricked by a con man that always called her "sweetheart," and she had repeated those exact words. "Sorry. But isn't there _anything_ you can do?"

The man sighed loudly outwardly, and I just decided to suck it up and deal with him if that was what it took. "Look, okay, we can send, say, a couple policemen out there to take a look, and ask questions."

"Oh, thank you!" I cried. I ignored the "yeah, yeah," I got from him, and quickly told him the address to our house, and giddily hung up the phone.

"What'd he say?" asked a curious Cleo as I handed the wireless phone back to her.

"He said he'll send a couple policemen down here to investigate," I said.

"Alright. Bella's parents will be here shortly, so that doesn't give us much time to get ready and change out of our pajamas. I'll go tell dad what happened, and you guys get ready, okay?" Cleo said.

"Sure," Rikki and I both agreed, but when I tried to get up, I felt horrible. All I wanted to do was curl up on the couch and never walk again. I felt like vomiting.

"What's wrong?" Cleo asked as I settled myself back down on the couch.

"I just don't feel like getting up. I think I might puke. Maybe I've got the flu or something?" It was my best guess.

"Probably the concussion. You should go the doctor," Cleo advised.

"Maybe," I said, not really planning to do it. But if it helped me feel better, of course I would go for it.

"You can stay there, Rikki and I will get ready." Cleo then left me alone in the room.

I rubbed the ice bag all over my head, mostly in the spots that hurt the most. I got pretty bored waiting for the girls, so I resorted to listening to the sounds around the room: the pipes, and air-conditioning in the wall, and the thuds and muted voices of Rikki, Cleo, Don and Kim above.

I sat on the couch, counting the minutes it was taking them to get done dressing. I was getting the creeps just sitting in the room, even though I was filled with the familiar artifacts all around the room. I felt like I could just sense something wrong with this room, something misplaced... I could almost feel Bella's presence in the room.

"Emma?" I heard an abrupt call, and I immediately jumped.

Nice laughter filled the room, and I saw Cleo enter through the room. "A bit jumpy, are we? I'll tell you a secret. I am too." She smiled warmly. I smiled back wanly.

A hard, sharp knock rang through the house, and Cleo rushed to get it. I sucked in a sharp breath, and braced myself. This was going to be hard.

Cleo reentered, but this time not alone. Tagging along behind her were two policemen, each dressed up in a uniform, their badge in full view as if bragging.

Don and Kim arrived down then, and ushered them to sit on the couch not occupied by me. Feeling ashamed for taking up so much room, I moved my feet and sat upright, only to make myself feel worse, but I sucked it up so Rikki and Cleo could sit there.

"So, explain to us what happened last night," the first officer said, pulling out his notepad.

"Well," began Cleo, slowly. "We were having a sleepover. Rikki, Emma, Bella and I," she said, motioning to us. I rubbed down harder on my head, only to make it ache more. I loosened up on the rubbing and just let it sit there, occasionally taking it off when my skin felt like it was frostbit.

"So, Bella and Emma got into a fight," Cleo said, glancing my way, asking permission to use my name and explain the fight. I nodded miserably, knowing it was the only way to get Bella back. "They fought until Bella rushed to the back door and yelled at us, just before storming out of the house."

"Was the fight between Emma and Bella physical in any way, or just verbal?" the one policeman asked, motioning my way. I clenched my teeth, fighting back the urge to yell and say that I would never hurt anyone intentionally, but that would only prove to them that I was capable of such things like fighting constantly, which was totally not me.

"Just verbal," assured Cleo. "Emma is a calm person. She wouldn't harm anyone."

"Continue," said the second policeman.

"So when she stormed out, Emma blamed herself and went to go find her. When she came back to the house about fifteen minutes later, she hadn't found Bella, and told us she fell down multiple times, and later we found out she had a concussion. So we all went out to find Bella, and we couldn't find her after a long period of time. We had to take Emma back to the house because she wasn't feeling good, and then we went to sleep. That's about it," Cleo said, shrugging. "Is there anything you can do?"

"We're not sure. We'll ask some questions to each of you guys, then we'll take a look around outside." The stern policeman tucked his notepad back in his pocket. "We can ask questions in the other room for more privacy. Who wants to go first?"

"I will," I volunteered. "It's only fair. I got us in this mess, so I should be the first one to be questioned."

The first policeman nodded and motioned in the direction of the dining room. I got up slowly, not wanting to jolt and hurt myself anymore. I anxiously was led into the dining room, where Policeman Number Two shut the door, as if shutting me in and he was going to hurt me. But that was silly. He'd only hurt me with his words.

"When was the last time you saw Bella?" said Policeman Number One.

I took a deep breath. I'd seen the movies before, and read books, so I knew that the policeman was going to ask me multiple times about the same thing, or about something they already knew, just to squeeze excess info out of someone. "I last saw Bella when she stormed out of the house using the back door."

"And I recall that you first left by yourself to look for Bella because you blamed yourself for these happenings. Did you by chance run into her while looking for her, and she just wouldn't come home?" The policeman smoothed his uniform, mentally telling me not to lie, and that he was a policeman and he could see through any lie.

"To tell you the truth," I said, emphasizing and stretching the word 'truth,' "I can't remember much. When I fell, it was like some memory was shaken out too. So, I probably might as well have met Bella, but I'm seriously so confused right now that I have no idea."

"Alright," said Policeman Number One, jotting down notes. "Did Hartley say anything before she stormed out?"

I bit my lip, not wanting my big fat mouth to spill out any of those hurtful words she had snarled to us. But I knew this would help find her. I ended up having a lone tear slid down my cheek, and I tried to bite back any others from escaping down my eyes. I choked on my words as I said, "She told me she...hated me. Then she called us bitches and told us our friendship wouldn't last." I held my head in my hands and sobbed hard.

"I think that's all we need," Policeman Number Two said softly, and I smiled at him kindly. I knew they probably had more questions for me than that, considering I was the one to be in the whole ruckus with Bella, and went to find her first.

I got up out of my chair and together the three of us left the dining room. We found the others murmuring quietly to each other, not wanting to disrupt our session. Upon seeing us, their heads snapped up and they stopped talking.

"I'll go next," Rikki said, not waiting for the two officers to ask. She pranced in that bold way of hers to the dining room, and I couldn't help but smile. I saw Policeman Number Two shrug to Number One, so they just followed Rikki into the room and shut the door with a loud bang.

_**-Rikki POV-**_

I crossed my legs, and picked off a piece of lint that clung to my pants. The two police officers sat in front of me in two wooden chairs that used to surround the dining table.

"So," the first (fat) officer said, pulling out a blue notepad and a black ink pen that was tucked away in his shirt pocket. "How long have you known Bella?"

"Around a year. Why?" I asked curiously. What did this have to do with anything?

Ignoring my question fully, which really irked me, he continued, "The night she disappeared...yesterday night...did she only fight with Bella? Or you and...uh..._Caroline_, too?"

"Her name is _Cleo_," I said abruptly. I was beginning to like the other officer better. "And no, she didn't. Only Emma. But that was only because Emma had just moved back home, and she felt that she was being replaced, I guess. They both usually don't get into fights."

"Was something going on back home or anywhere that might have made her in the fighting mood?" asked the second officer.

I gladly accepted the question from the other officer. "No...well, actually now that I think about it, yes. She got in a fight with her boyfriend just before coming here."

"So she got into two fights in one day, and she is usually calm?" the first officer said, squinting as if trying to see inside of me and see if I was lying.

"Well...yeah," I said, and I realized I must have sounded stupid. But Rikki Chadwick was not stupid, nor would she let a mean officer intimidate her.

"She seems like the type to keep secrets from you. How well did you really know her?" I hated that smug smile on his face, as if he was talking to someone so below his level, and wouldn't understand crap. I also hated how he looked and acted like he knew Bella better than I did, which was so untrue that I wanted to punch him straight in the gut.

"_What_ are you getting at? That she lied a lot? Because trust me, she didn't. And if you're implying that her running away was due to some random fact that she had two fights with people in one day, which must have been her only fights in probably a _year_, then you're a nut." I liked that. I gave him a piece of my mind. And, ha! I called an officer a nut!

"All I'm saying is that Bella liked to cause a ruckus. She liked to be in the spotlight. And she liked to play these games." The officer seemed to not care of what I thought of him. The second officer put a hand on the first one's shoulder, signaling to him that I was only a teenager and he shouldn't be arguing with me.

I just slowly shook my head, frozen in the spot. Upset, and about to hit him in the face, I rose out of my chair and rushed out of those double doors that separated us and everyone else. "We're done here," I said, slamming the doors shut and running to the couch. When Cleo looked at me quizzically, I just muttered to her that it was her turn, and then said, "Good luck. The first policeman is an idiot."

_**-Cleo POV-**_

I gave Rikki a queer look, but didn't let her words fall into silence. I decided to take her wisdom and listen more to the second policeman.

I got up on wobbly legs and made my way to the two big heavy doors. I pushed them open and it revealed the two policemen sitting on two chairs, just in front of a smaller chair.

I carefully made my way to the unoccupied chair and sat down. The policemen were busy jotting something rapidly down in their notebook, and I didn't even think they'd noticed I'd entered. I cleared my throat loudly to get their attentions. They jumped and looked up at me, where I smiled and said, "Uh, hi, I'm Cleo Sertori, Bella's friend." I had choked on the name, "Bella," and the word friend had just gone downhill.

"Ah, yes," said one policeman. He was squat and fat, his bald head shining. His nametag read, _A. Milton._ "We have a few questions for you."

"I figured," I said, a hint of razor edge to my voice. I remembered Rikki's warning of the first policeman being an idiot, so I figured he was the first one.

"Nice," he scoffed. "I just hope you aren't like that last girl." He looked at me with cold colorless eyes that made me wonder what he cared more about: solving the Bella mystery or getting his next paycheck.

"So what's the first question?" I asked to the second policeman. If Officer Milton would give me no respect, I wouldn't either.

He laughed kindly and I curiously read _his_ nametag: _C. Beakerman._ He said, "Did you find anything unusual during your quest to find Bella?"

I had to stop and pause for a second to regain my memory of the previous night and mentally rack my brain for any clue. Truth be told, I wasn't expecting I'd be sitting in this chair today, in front of two policemen. So during my search, I hadn't really kept my eye out for anything. I basically just looked for Bella. "Not particularly, if you don't count trees and grass muted by the darkness unusual."

He jotted something down, while Officer Milton just rolled his eyes at my stupid joke. I narrowed my eyes at him, not really caring at the moment that he was an officer and that he could send me to jail.

"How far out did you three look?" Officer Beakerman said. I was glad he got me away from thinking about Officer Milton; if I thought any longer, Milton would be pretty injured right about now.

I bit my lip, forcing myself to concentrate on the question. Once again, I thought about how far we had searched before coming back. "Pretty far, I would have to say. We would've been searching pretty much all night and further out if we hadn't had to come back."

"Why did you come back?" Milton questioned, sizing up to me as if I was lying and that we had seen Bella.

"We came back for Emma. Her concussion was getting worse so we brought her back for some rest, which, now that I think about it, was a bad idea. Emma shouldn't have slept with a concussion." I sighed, now feeling foolish. I could almost feel my ears heating up in embarrassment. All I really wanted to do was go back into my living room. "Are the questions over yet?" I asked.

"Almost. One left." Beakerman looked at me with sorrow, sorry that I wanted to go but couldn't. I smiled back in reassurance that I was ready. "Rikki mentioned to us earlier that Bella had a fight with her boyfriend. Did she tell _you_ what it was about?" He emphasized the word "you," clearly showing that Bella hadn't told Rikki.

I smiled, grateful that Officer Beakerman had remembered Rikki's name, unlike Milton who had simply put it, "the last girl." I then said, "No. She told Rikki and I at the same time that it was just over something silly. She never told us straight out what the fight was about, but at the time I didn't think it mattered."

"Alright, you may go now," Beakerman said, flipping his notepad shut. I nodded gratefully and stood up, spinning around to open the doors to freedom.

"How'd it go?" asked Rikki as I sat down by her. Emma settled by me, snapping her cell phone that was flipped open shut.

"Pretty good," I said teetering on my answer. "And you were right. The first policeman _is_ an idiot."

Rikki smiled playfully, and I turned to Emma. "Hey, Ems, who were you calling?" I said, commenting on when she'd snapped the phone shut.

_**-Emma POV-**_

"Calling my parents," I said. "I don't feel too well." I rubbed my head with the palm of my hand, but ended up just putting the ice pack back on my head.

"I don't blame you," Cleo said sympathetically. "You took a lot of great falls yesterday. Are you going to the doctor or something?"

"I don't know. My mom just wants to come over and check it out before doing anything," I said slowly. "I don't really think I need it."

"You kidding me?" Rikki exclaimed. "Yesterday you could barley walk let alone talk!"

"Thanks," I said sarcastically. "That _really_ helped." We all ended up laughing.

Fifteen minutes later, two things happened. First, the two policemen came out and announced that they needed to do an investigation outside to find any clues that would help them find Bella, or Bella herself that had just fallen asleep under a tree or something. Second, my mom came and once she looked at me, crumpled and hurt as if the sleepover had changed me; she said that I had to go to the hospital for my head.

"Can't I just stay an extra hour or so? I really need to know what happens during the investigation for Bella." I had already explained to my mom about the whole Bella thing, leaving out various snippets of information about our fight. Right now, I was feeling that I shouldn't have called my mom and maybe should have waited.

"Don't be silly Emma, I'm sure Rikki or Cleo could call and tell you what happened. I'm sure the news will be positive." She turned and smiled to Rikki and Cleo, who smiled back their weary smiles.

"You should go, Emma," Rikki said. "Like your mom said, we can call you." She smiled.

I sighed and said, "I don't know. I just feel that this thing is my fault and that I should stick around for any kind of results."

"We'll call you," said Cleo, pushing her voice a little more. "Don't worry Emma, we have this all handled. So go, okay? For us?" She looked at my mother for some support, and my mom beamed and nodded in agreement.

"Alright," I said, letting out a long breath. "But call right when we get results of any kind, okay? Please?" I looked at both Rikki and Cleo and they smiled, satisfied.

"Let's go," my mom said, helping me up from the couch. The policemen were just about to begin their search; they tightened their laces repeatedly while explaining to Don where they would search according to where Bella had gone and where we had searched.

My mom and I both started for the door, and when it opened I let the fresh morning sunshine warm my cheeks and embrace me with its rays. It hurt my eyes, so I closed my eyes; soaking up the energy the sun was giving me, and feeling the immense power on me. I opened up my eyes to see we had arrived at the car, which was parked straightly in the Sertori's driveway. My dad was sitting in the driver's seat, waiting for our arrival. I climbed into the backseat since my parents were up front to reveal Elliott sitting in the back also.

"Why did we have to pick up Emma? Couldn't she have walked?" asked the always-curious Elliott. I rolled my eyes, even though I knew that Elliott was trying to mean it in the most sincere and thoughtful way.

"She didn't feel well enough to walk home," my mom explained simply as the car rolled down the driveway and took a sharp turn to the left. The sun flashed into my eyes, making me wince with unusual pain.

"Where are we going? Our house is the other way," Elliott said, as if my parents didn't already know.

"We're going to the hospital," said my mom. She reached over and grabbed a pair of sunglasses, twiddling with them before placing them delicately over her eyes. I reached over and grabbed an identical pair—the sun was really hurting my eyes. I slid them over my eyes as quickly as possible.

"Why?" Elliott looked over to me in surprise. I guess he hadn't realized the ice I was holding to my head. Once he did, he said in shock, "What happened?"

"It's...a long story Elliott. I'll tell it to you later." I used to be able to pull the old "you are too young to understand," routine over him, but now that he was thirteen, I really didn't think it would work anymore. My last resort was to tell him but leave out unnecessary details—like the ones that would make him hate me for doing that to Bella. "Like I said...it's a long story."

"Alright," said Elliott, resting back into the firm plush of his seat. "Will we be back soon? I promised my friends I would meet up with them later. They want to see me after I've been gone for a year."

"It depends, Elliott," dad said. "It depends on how backed up the hospital is." He turned the steering wheel, jolting the car to make a right. I shook off the throbbing in my skull, and readjusted my sunglasses to fit perfectly on my nose. I sunk back into the car and listened to the soft music pouring out of the radio and Elliott yapping on the phone to his friend the whole way there.

When I saw the huge, looming white building towering to the sky just ahead of us, I straightened up. The last time I had been to the hospital was when I had broken my wrist many years ago. I took in how much it had changed since last year. It looked like they built another section to it, making it look a little bigger. I remembered when I broke my wrist how the hospital looked intimidating to me, but I think that was just because I had feared I would have to give up swimming for a while; I later found out that to be untrue, considering I swam with my cast on!

We parked in an empty spot and piled out of the car. I tried not to look directly at the sun, even though I had on my sunglasses. Elliott did not yield at talking on the phone to his friend until we got to the section of the hospital we wished to enter and his friend had to go. So he silently hung up the phone and followed us into the creaky elevator.

We all piled in and I held my breath; I really hated elevators. I had fears that it would stop in between floors, or break down and come speeding down and crash at the basement level. I gripped the cold metal bar that lined the elevator wall while my mom punched in the floor number we needed to go to by reading a map that was posted on the elevator wall. She then insisted that I take off my sunglasses, so I did, and handed them to her.

Once we reached our destination, the elevator doors took their time waiting to open up. Once they finally creaked open, I jumped out of the elevator, terrified that it would never work again.

"Room 390," my mom said, reading now another map of the floor we were in. "Go straight down this hallway and make a right, then we should be able to locate it just fine."

To me, she sounded as if she knew this hospital like she'd built it. In reality, I knew she hadn't been here for a while, considering we were gone for a year and even before that we hadn't come here often. But without complaining, I was led down the hall and into Room 390.

"Here we go," dad said, pushing open the door. I smelled various smells of a hospital, some good and some bad. We found ourselves in a medium white waiting area, with a collection of old oak desks cluttered with out dated magazines and newspapers on its tabletop. A few people waited there, each looking a little sickly. I easily shied away from them and to the receptionists' desk, where my parents were in a heated conversation with the old lady who had thick glasses perched on the bridge of her nose. She didn't even bother to make eye contact with my parents as they talked—she was just too busy typing on the computer.

"One hour you say?" my dad said, drumming his fingers impatiently on the desk. "Are you sure?"

"Look, sir," she said in a shaky but professional and steady voice, "We have many other patients waiting. You will just have to wait." She rolled her eyes at the computer monitor, probably thinking that he was stupid.

"Alright," my dad said, rubbing his temples. "We'll wait. Come on guys," he said, and we all turned away, except for me.

When I started back, I glanced over my shoulder to view the lady. She was silently shaking her head in mockery. I guessed she hated her job. I just smiled when I spied the glass of water on her desk, and stuck my hand out. One thing that hadn't gotten rusty during the trip was my powers. I used them on multiple occasions, never tiring of them. When I saw the receptionist's glass of water freeze over, I just smiled that same mocking smile she wore.

"Emma? What are you doing? Come on," Elliott urged. I quickly snapped my head back in the right position to see Elliott looking at me, gesturing to where my parents sat, reading magazines. I just smiled my innocent smile and walked to the chairs with him.

Multiple times Elliott had come to finding out my secret; multiple. There were times when it was just the two of us at the hotel pool because it was just the crack of dawn (Elliott loved to go to the pool early in the morning because no one was there.) I would then accidentally fall into the pool, and I had to get Elliott away from me. Successfully, it worked. There was one time where we where we were at a hotel in Germany, and our tour group was going to explore the Neuschwanstein Castle. Unluckily (for me), it began to rain, and of course I couldn't have gone out into the rain. Elliott was trying to persuade me to go, while I was trying to tell him that I didn't feel like going. He eventually tugged me out into the rain, where I ended up running and landed in the janitor's closet with a tail. After that, I swore to myself that one day, I _would_ tell Elliott. It just wouldn't be then. No, not then. But someday.

I plopped myself on their hard couch, and grabbed a magazine that had to be at _least_ a year old. I opened it to a random page (I think it was tips on make-up) and silently read.

OoOoO

"Emma Gilbert?" I heard a sharp but gentle voice say. I looked up to see a nurse poking her head out of a wooden side door, looking at me.

I stretched my stiff legs and got up, wobbling a little because of how long I was sitting. And how long _was_ that? A half an hour? Two hours? I checked my cell phone—disappointingly, no calls, as if I couldn't be able to hear the ring in the quiet office—and saw that it had been forty-five minutes. I stuck it back in my pocket and went over to the nurse.

The next half an hour—I think, I wasn't really keeping the time, more like daydreaming—passed by in a blur. I just kept thinking about what was happening at Cleo's house, and how Bella's investigation was going. The only thing I was really listening to in the real world was the doctor's instructions. That, and the fact when they surprised me by shining a light in my eyes, in which I winced away from. They ran a CT scan, and gave me a pill, which made the throbbing in my head go down.

When we were done, we both walked out of his office and to the waiting room where my brother and parents were waiting. "Finally!" shouted Elliott, and I just narrowed my eyes at him and playfully shoved him.

"No serious effects or damage, but she had a pretty bad concussion. I suggest that she doesn't go to sleep until three in the morning, just in case. And after that, have someone wake her up at least once in the night to ask her what her name is and the date. If she has any more serious side effects, like vomiting or her headaches increase, come back here."

"Alright," said my dad, who was nodding the whole way. I just sighed outwardly. I wasn't allowed to go to sleep until three AM? How was I supposed to keep myself from falling asleep from exhaustion right now? But I didn't protest as we all filed out into the hall.

Once outside, and the sunlight hit our faces in such a melodious way that I took a deep breath in, almost smelling the purity of it all. Of course, then I remembered that Bella was missing, and that all stopped cold.

I took the sunglasses from mom and instantly slipped them on, as if now the once pure sun had turned evil. I rubbed my hands together just as my phone went off, singing its ring tone.

"You guys go ahead!" I shouted to the rest of my family. "I'll catch up with you in a second!" I watched for a few seconds as they walked towards the car, and I remembered that my phone was going off loudly. I shuffled my feet across the concrete hospital sidewalk, and flipped open the cell phone rapidly, chewing my lip nervously as I said, "What did they find?"

I watched as my parents waved at me to hurry up as I heard those timid words escaping from Cleo's lips, "Emma, they didn't find her."

**A/N: Next chapter will be the current scene; a year after Bella vanishes. I hope you enjoyed, and please review. Ciao!**


	3. Chapter 1: The First Messages

**A/N: Thanks to all my reviewers, and I really hope you enjoy this chapter. I'm hoping to post another chapter of H2O: What if? soon, but I have no idea, because recently I've been busy, I'm signing up for the local theater, so let's keep our fingers crossed for a chapter soon! XD**

Funny when you're dead how people start listening

_-_The Band Perry, _If I Die Young_

**Chapter One: The First Messages**

_**-Third POV-**_

After that night, the terrifying night where Bella Hartley disappeared, the girls saw less and less of each other. The calls became less frequent, as if the whole Bella thing had gotten the girls paranoid of each other. They began to spend full moons at their own houses, separated. It got so bad that whenever one of them would swim to the moon pool and encounter another girl there, they would quickly—and embarrassedly—leave. During the classes they had together, they didn't make eye contact and only talked if they were partnered up, which was not really something the teachers did. They usually just let them choose their own partners. In the hallways, if one passed another, they wouldn't say hi or hello or even smile. It was like they were never friends. After that night, that terrifying night, they stopped being friends. But all that was changed a year later, the day the girls got a message from B.

_**-Emma POV-**_

I thought that weird panging feeling in my chest whenever I got a bad grade would be over once I got a few. I was dead wrong. It only grew worse.

_Slap!_ Mr. Russell slapped down my test like he was mad. I looked up to see his expression: disappointment. Somehow, I wanted to use ESP to tell him that deep down, I was disappointed too. But I had built up a thick brick wall between me and that feeling, and it was going to take a lot more than the huge wrecking ball of the bad grade to tear down my hard work.

"See me after class," he said sternly, and I couldn't help but want to smash my head on my book, or better, my wood desk. I knew better than to get worked up over another bad grade, but that huge red F staring up at me was mocking me, saying, "You knew question thirteen was choice B. You're so stupid, trying to act cool by getting the wrong answers." I just wanted to yell back that grade, and say, "I wasn't _trying_! I wasn't trying at all! I didn't study or try, so that's why I failed! I'm sorry!" Of course, if I yelled at a sheet of paper, people would think I'm crazy. If I wasn't already crazy, that is.

The bell then rung, high and shrill, but I made no move to escape the class early. I watched as everyone shuffled out, and slowly packed away the cursed paper, not looking forward to seeing Mr. Russell after class. I took my time in gathering up my materials, and slowly but steadily made my way to the front of the desk.

"Emma," Mr. Russell said slowly, breathing out in the same rhythm. "What happened? You used to be an A+ student, now you're barely skimming the surface with the grades you muster now."

What happened? That was his question? What happened was that I stopped caring. What were grades anyway? As long as I made it to the next year of school, I was fine. Now it was senior year, and my grades really had been dropping, because I simply _did not care_. It all didn't matter to me anymore. Basically, the only things that I really did care about now were my midnight swims as a mermaid and Ash.

"Um," I said, slowly breathing out. "I don't know." I shifted uncomfortably to the other foot, wanting to get out of there as quick as I could. I decided to play dumb and act as if I had no clue was he was talking about, or just tell him I didn't know for every question.

"Emma, I hate to break this to you, but if this keeps up, I'm going to have to assign you a tutor." There was no trace of sympathy in his voice.

A tutor? That really hit me like a huge, cold wave just splashing unexpectedly on your face. Not that anything was wrong with having a tutor, but that was just a huge shock for my ears to hear. I used to be the tutor, not the person being tutored. I realized then and there that I probably had to get better grades to avoid the whole tutoring situation. The only reputation with tutors was when Cleo had told Rikki and I about how Charlotte had loaded Cleo with homework when she was her tutor just so Charlotte could be alone with Cleo's ex, Lewis. But the shoe was on the other foot when she lost her mermaid powers and Lewis.

"Mr. Russell, don't worry. I'll try to get better grades, okay? I really will. Please don't get me a tutor just yet. You just watch." I gave him a dazzling smile, and edged my way to the door, hinting that I wanted to go.

"Alright, but Emma, if you get one more bad grade, I will assign you a tutor." He crossed his arms, and leaned back into the plush of the chair like he was satisfied with himself.

"Don't worry Mr. Russell, I've got it all under control. You won't be disappointed," I insisted, and slowly backed up out of the room. He sent me a, "You _better_ have this under control," look, and I escaped.

I quickly collected myself as I exited, only to have a voice behind me say, "What did he want?"

I spun around to see none other than Jenna White, my best friend standing there, clutching her books. I smiled and we started to walk together down the hall.

Jenna White was gorgeous. She had coco brown skin, which was beautiful and radiant. Her intense green eyes seemed to drink in whatever you said, and told you by just looking into them, "Tell me more. I loved to play with you like a puppet." Jenna had long wavy brown hair, which was now pulled back in a ponytail to my dismay. She had talked about getting her hair cut much shorter, but I was always the one to insist that it was great long.

Besides her looks, Jenna was a great person. She was everything you needed in a best friend. She listened to your problems and helped you as much as she could, no matter what would happen to her. She always stuck by my side, through all my mistakes, and I was surprised she had learned to live with all my flaws.

"The usual. He lectured me that if I didn't get my grades back up, he would get me a tutor. He even dared to bring up my past good grades and stellar behavior, and compare it to now. It was all the tests fault, though." I sighed, glad I got it all off my chest.

Jenna was new here, coming to our school at the beginning of senior year, which was not even a month ago. Once I saw her excellent character and fashion sense, I knew she would be a perfect friend now that I didn't hang out with Cleo or Rikki anymore. I tried to keep my past a secret from her (my good grades and goody two-shoes record), but she was good at figuring out secrets. I should be thankful that she hasn't figured out my biggest one yet.

"What test? That easy one in language arts?" Jenna said. She was a straight A student, so I expected her to call it easy. To me, it was pretty difficult.

I buried my pathetic face in my hands. "Great! I failed the _easy_ quiz! What will I get on a hard one?" I handed her the stupid paper that was folded up, and said, "You keep it. I don't want it. It mocks me."

She rolled her eyes. "Drama queen much? Come on Em, it can't be _that bad_." She unfolded the paper and her eyes widened as it skimmed the page, soaking in all the red Xs encircling just about every question number. I could almost see her shock and disappointment showing, and I was crushed.

"Emma," she said slowly, folding up the paper. "You misspelled easy words on here. How'd you do that?"

"I don't know!" I said. "I guess I just stopped trying. School didn't mean anything to me, so I just stopped trying."

"Oh," said Jenna, looking down, not saying a word. I looked at her peculiarly, waiting for her to say something. But she didn't say a word.

I spotted my locker out of the corner of my eye, and said a quick good-bye to Jenna. We parted, and I arrived at my locker, which had paint peeling off of it. I twisted the dial to the correct locker numbers, and pulled down on it. I was granted access to my locker, and I began shoving my books into it.

I grabbed a pack of fruit flavored gum off the shelf, and stuck a piece in my mouth, chewing rapidly to get rid of the sugar so I would be able to blow a bubble. I also grabbed my phone that was nestled in the corner with my colorful scarf. I began flipping through the missed calls and texts, reading each one carefully.

Just then, my phone began to play its ring tone that it plays when I get a text, and to shut it up, I opened the message, and read what was neatly printed on the small glowing screen,

_What happened to goody two shoe's Emma? Did her grades drop dead just when I did?_

_-B_

"What the—" I said, staring at the words. I opened my mouth again, and then snapped it shut. No other words spilled out.

What was this message? Who was it from? I quickly went to a list of my text messages, and it said it was from an unknown number. I selected it, and read it again, over and over. But my eyes just locked on the signature: B. Who was B? Bob? Becky? _Bella?_

No. I snapped my phone shut, shutting out those words. No, it was probably just a prank. Nothing to get worked up over. It was over, and it would never happen again. I'd just delete the message.

But as I was scrolling through my texts again, the bell rang. I groaned, and closed my phone. Deleting the message would have to wait. Right now I had to get to my class.

_**-Cleo POV-**_

"Cleo Sertori to the principal's office, _now_." Wow, that voice did not sound friendly. There was no doubt that I was in trouble. _Big time._

My teacher nodded towards me, and I gathered up my books and slung my backpack over one shoulder. All my classmates stared hard at me, like asking what I did wrong. I just tried hard not to look at them as I made my way out the door.

As I walked down the hallway, I noticed how empty it was without the hustle and bustle of students trying to get to their classes in record time. I could hear the click of my shoes as I walked down the hallway, matched up with the muted voices of the classes that were in session.

Along the way, I couldn't help but wonder why they needed me at the office. Did I do something wrong? Well, let's see. My grades were decent, and anyway I didn't think having bad grades would make them call you down to the office. I hadn't vandalized anything (I never would) and I was pretty much out of the spotlight in school. So what could be the matter?

I hastily moved into the principal's office, feeling unsettled. The only times I had been in here were whenever I had to drop off papers or something, but never if I was in trouble. Well, there was no way to tell if I was in trouble or not, but according to the stern voice on the speaker I was pretty sure I knew.

I took a seat in front of the head desk, and waited for the principal to come out. Instead, the gym coach did.

"Mrs. O'Neill? What are you doing here?" I asked. I thought I was going to the principal, not the coach.

"Cleo, I'll just get straight to the point. You haven't gotten full gym credit because you skipped the swimming course this year. Why?" She crossed her arms and sat down on the principal's usual chair.

So _that_ was what this is about. Well, it was time to come up with a lie as to why I couldn't swim. "I...uh...am...allergic to chlorine?" It came out more like a question. The excuse had been used by Rikki before, so I really hoped she'd believe it. I held my breath as she looked me over, as if seeing if I was lying.

"Like your old friend Rikki, eh?" she said. I wasn't surprised that she said "old friend." Emma, Rikki and I all used to hang out so very often that it was unnatural for us to not hang out together anymore. Pretty much everyone knew we weren't friends anymore, and it was a weird feeling. Almost like if you are being stalked.

"Yeah," I said. "That was kind of the reason we were friends. Similar personalities, you know?" I gripped the chair tight, hoping the coach wouldn't see my distress and lies.

"Okay. Cleo, you're a good student, so I believe you. You'll probably have to make up the credit, but that won't be so hard, will it? You'll probably have the company of others who can't swim in gym, like Rikki." Oh, joy. Rikki. It wasn't like I hated her; it was just that it would be a little uncomfortable around her doing whatever extra credit the Mrs. O'Neill had up her sleeve. And no doubt that Emma would be joining us; it wasn't like she could cry, "Cannonball!" and jump into the pool with the rest of the _normal_ students. Well, we weren't normal. And it kind of sucked that we weren't friends anymore.

"Sure," I said timidly. "Can I go now?" Seeing the look on her face, I quickly put in, "Not to be rude or anything. I just...think the bells going to ring soon. And I don't want to be late, you know." I smiled a good girl smile in hopes that she would free me.

"Alright Cleo, nothing holding you back now. Go ahead," she nodded towards the door, and picked up a thick stack of papers, and looked at them like she needed to sort them or something. I knew better. What kind of gym teacher does paperwork?

"'Kay," I said, shuffling my feet towards the door. "Bye." I slung my backpack over one shoulder and hustled out the door. I made sure to never look back as I left. I wouldn't want a memory anyway.

I made my way through the empty hall, thoughts of me just hanging around by my locker until the bell rang wandering around in my head. No one needed to know. I would just pretend our meeting took up the time between then and when the bell rang. Maybe I could be late for class, and say I was in the office. Oh yes...

But just then, the bell rang. I groaned, tilting my chin up towards the ceiling, silently saying, "One minute. You couldn't have given me one minute in the hall by myself?"

I headed for my original destination: my locker. I opened it and started cramming my books in the locker. Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted something on the top shelf.

"What's this?" I said quietly to myself, and grabbed the folded piece of notebook paper lying innocently on my shelf. I unfolded it, getting a little excited. I hoped it would be from Lewis. I loved his little random text messages or notes passed to me in class telling me how much he loved me.

The paper revealed a typed message in the center. _Strange,_ I thought. _Wouldn't a typed message usually be on blank computer paper?_ I ran my finger on the ripped edge of the paper as I read,

_Roses are red,_

_Violets are blue._

_Cleo is a big fat liar,_

_I know she agrees too._

_-B_

I just stared, open mouthed, at the anonymous note. Wait, could I really call it anonymous? It was signed, after all. I squinted at the simple, yet confusing, signature: B. Who the heck was B? I just sighed, and folded up the paper. I was getting a little freaked out right now. Who could be B, and why did she pick me to send a note to?

_**-Rikki POV-**_

"I hate this," I heard a low hiss in my ear. I smiled, knowing exactly who it was. I turned to see Zane, walking away from me and towards a stage helper, giving me a glare.

"You lost the bet!" I whisper-yelled back to him. "And I told you if you lost, you had to try out for the play with me." I really hadn't known Zane would hate the whole acting in a play thing. I guess it just wasn't his thing. But I did know something: acting was _my_ thing. I loved to shed my other self and just become someone else, hold their worry or happiness, feel their pain or love. I just wanted to share that with Zane, but I guess he just couldn't grasp it the way I could.

I smoothed out the font of my costume. It was itchy and clung to me in all the wrong ways, but I really didn't mind. We were doing a play that was set in medieval times, and I got the lead as a princess. It _really_ didn't fit my real wild, rebellious attitude, but that was what acting was about, right? Becoming someone new. So I was becoming a whole new person with a completely different manner, like trying on a different set of clothes. People wanted to change all the time, but had no idea where to start. Why not start with a play? You could try it on for size to see if you liked it.

I was way too busy in my thoughts to really register what was going on in the world around me. I was just standing in the middle of the stage, waiting for the director to tell us what scene we'd be practicing next, when all of a sudden I heard a cry of, "Oh my God, look out!"

I turned around, startled, to see the huge and heavy prop of the castle behind me looming over me. What was so bad about that? But then I saw as it seemed to get closer to me, bending down to look me square in the eye. It was falling on top of me!

I just stood in shock. My cloudy mind commanded my frozen feet to move, but they wouldn't obey. Instead, they stood, locked in place. The castle looked heavy, and I knew that if it crashed on top of me it would probably hurt badly. Even with those thoughts in my head, I just couldn't move.

I felt a powerful blow on my right side, pushing me out of the way. I lost my balance and fell down out of the way, skidding over to the left side. I kept sliding on the polished floor, and when I finally stopped, I looked up to see what happened.

The castle prop was lying down on the floor, its unpainted side sticking up. The stage helpers were rushing to put it back up like it was a huge deal, when all they needed was a few people to lift the fat thing up. I registered enough to realize that there was another person lying by me.

"Zane?" I said astonished, as he stood up, brushing off his medieval clothes as if his heroic deed was nothing. He gave me a hand, which I took gratefully. I stood up and tried to smooth out my dress.

"Thanks," I said, really meaning it. "That thing could have crushed me."

"Do I get a prize for saving you? Like quitting the play?" he said hopefully, smiling at me in a goofy and jokingly matter.

"Don't push your luck," I warned. I turned to the director and said, "Can we take five? My side hurts from where Zane crashed into me."

He nodded. "Sorry about that, Rikki, I'll make sure next time to make it more secure." He flipped through a few pages with scrawled black ink writing on them on his clipboard and wrote himself a little note.

"It was an accident," I assured him. I turned back to Zane. "I'm going to the bathroom. I'll be right back, okay?" He nodded, and I stood on my tiptoes, and began to kiss him passionately.

"PDA! PDA!" someone shouted from back stage, and I abruptly ended the kiss and turned to the owner of the voice.

"Shut up Nate," I muttered, embarrassed. Nate had never given up on his annoying attitude, and it really peeved me that he was working the sound effects. See, he recently got detention for fighting with some guy who was in a relationship with this girl he liked. He either had the choice of being suspended or working the play. Guess which one he chose?

I walked off the stage, constantly adjusting my outfit to fit me. Once I arrived at the bathroom, I just gave up on it, realizing that it was just useless.

I shut myself up in a stall and lifted up the bottom of the all too girly dress to reveal my comfy jeans. I dug my hand in my one pocket, and produced my cell phone, where I scrolled through my text messages. Most of them were from Zane, but some were from my friends around the school. But the most recent one came from an anonymous person, and my phone refused to show me the number. I opened it up, and found a message neatly printed on the glowing screen,

_Zane saved the castle prop from killing you. Who's going to stop me?_

_-B_

I just gaped at the screen for the longest time, not moving. The screen eventually went black and went into sleep mode. When I finally got a grip, I shut the phone and shivered, and I was suddenly covered with the feeling of being watched.

Was the message supposed to be a death threat or something? But who would want to kill me? Had I made any enemies lately? Not that I recalled of. So who would want me to die?

I sighed outwardly, and straightened my dress. As I walked out and looked at myself in the glossy mirror, I gasped. "Of course!" I said, and my reflection said the same thing. I was filled with anger and rage at the person who sent me that hate message, but I would deal with them later. Right now I had a play to rehearse.

OoOoO

"Hello?"

"So not funny," I said in the coldest, meanest and most hateful voice I could muster.

"Huh? Who is this?" the voice said, confused for a moment. I heard shuffling on the one end, probably her getting up off of a couch or bed.

"What, you deleted me off your contact list?" I said coldly. "I actually don't blame you. I deleted yours too. But sending me death threats? That was the lowest of the low." I gripped my phone tight, so tight that I was afraid I might crush it.

"_Rikki_?" she said in an astonished tone. "What...after a year, why are you calling me?"

"Emma," I said, keeping my voice even, even though saying it sounded weird. The name tasted familiar, yet distant. I felt like I hadn't said it in a while, but in all honestly, it felt good to say it again. "I know you sent me that death threat."

"Death threat?" she said in a surprised tone. If I wasn't so convinced it was her I might had thought it might not had been her. "Rikki, even though we're not friends, I would never, _ever_, send you a death threat."

I was taken aback. Her voice sounded so sincere. How could it have been her? I suddenly felt stupid for thinking such a think, and embarrassed for calling after all this time. "I'm sorry," I mumbled apologetically. "I wasn't thinking rationally. I'll, uh...see you around, I guess. Bye."

I was about to hang up the phone when Emma stopped me. "Wait! Rikki, was your death threat signed by someone named B?"

"B?" I said stupidly. "Now that I think about it...yes. Yes it was. Why do you ask?"

"Because I got a message from B too," she said, excited. "Rikki, do you know anyone else who got a message?"

"Besides you? No one." I was pretty shocked. I didn't know B had made an unexpected message to the both of us. "Wait, Emma, you don't think _Cleo_ got one, do you?"

"Cleo?" she asked. "Oh my God, I think she did. Listen, meet me at my house in fifteen." I heard a pause, and I could practically _see_ the smile creep up on her face. "Did you forget how to get there?"

"Please. How could I forget when I sneak over ever Saturday to steal your snacks?" I said, smirking quietly to myself.

"Rikki! Tell me you're kidding," Emma said seriously. I cracked up laughing. It felt really good to laugh with Emma, like it used to be.

"No need to get all worked up. Okay, I'll be over soon," I promised. "See you then."

"But you never told me if you sneak over or not!" Emma pointed out. I smiled. Ah, Emma. Always the worrywart.

Without even answering (I didn't feel the need to), I hung up. I just stared at my phone, and processed what happened quickly through my head, and how my whole life had just changed through that one little phone call. I smiled down at the phone, and, as loud as I could, I screamed, "Yes! We're friends again!"

I instantly covered my mouth, not realizing how loud that sounded until it all came tumbling out of my mouth. I thanked my lucky stars that my dad wasn't home, and excitedly grabbed my jacket and rushed out the door, making it a world record.

_**-Cleo POV-**_

I felt my phone vibrate on my stomach. I giggled at the sensation, and picked it off. I closed the boring book I was reading. Lewis recommended it to me, but I had barely known a word in the book, and the ones I did were so dreary that I almost fell asleep.

I looked at the caller ID to see who was calling. I stared in shock at it for a second. It read, _Emma._

"Emma?" I said in the vast space of my bedroom. I didn't waste another second as I flipped it open and said in a shaky and questioning voice, "Uh, hello?"

Her laughter sounded like music to me. It was a song I had listened to forever, but then forgot all about it and the magical properties it had. But I had found it again, and I loved it even more. "Yeah, you sound surprised. I don't blame you. I sounded pretty surprised when Rikki called me today."

"What's going on?" I questioned, my voice hoarse. She didn't seem to be making any sense at all.

"I never even intended on calling you today," she continued. "But...Cleo, did you get a message signed by B?"

I froze, my jaw locking in place and every muscle in my body screaming that it didn't want to move. I could just stay in place on my bed, not caring that Emma was waiting for my answer. I was just in shock.

"Cleo?" she asked in a timid voice. She probably thought that I hadn't gotten a message and was feeling a bit embarrassed that she had asked. "Sorry to ask, I guess you didn't. I was just curious. Um...bye."

"How did you know?" I whispered, now gaining back my ability to move at least my mouth. I was still in shock. How would Emma, in all the people of the world, know I had gotten a message from B?

"Because Rikki and I got one too," she said slowly. Then she choked on her last words, "And Rikki's was a death threat." I stayed silent; soaking in the info she just gave me. "Rikki is coming over to my house. Come over too, okay? We can catch up and discuss this whole B thing."

"Sure," I said slowly. "I'll...I'll be right over." I hung up the phone and just sat in stunned silence. After a few minutes of that, I realized I'd better get moving. I got up out of my bed and walked downstairs.

"Hey, Cleo, want to join Kim and me in a board game?" my father said, piping up from the living room. I swiveled my head to catch a glimpse of my dad and sister on opposite ends of the coffee table with game pieces parts scattered all over the table.

"Dad, as much as I'd like to beat you in a board game, I can't. I'm going to Emma's house." When seeing his shocked expression, I quickly added, "Is that okay with you?"

"Sure, sure," he said rapidly. "It's just...you haven't hung out with Emma in such a long time. Why the sudden change of heart?"

"Well," I said slowly. "We just decided to catch up. Nothing wrong with that."

"Well, I'm glad you two are friends now," he said gladly.

I plucked off my jacket of the row of hooks and jammed my arm in one sleeve. "Dad, this doesn't mean we're friends again," I said, not wanting to get his hopes up. I knew too well that after we parted our separate ways, we'd pretty much never see each other again.

"Bye dad," I said, and opened then door. The bright sunlight dazzled me for a second, but I continued to walk through it, smiling the whole way.

_**-Emma POV-**_

I nervously paced back and forth in front of the door. What if they decided to bail? It _had_ been a whole year. Maybe they decided just to meet up with each other and leave me behind in the dust. Maybe they thought _I_ had sent B's messages just to bring us closer together, and they decided not to come for that reason. Maybe...

_Come on, Emma, think rationally_, a voice in my head screamed at me in an alarming tone. _They're coming soon. Don't worry._ I smiled, knowing it was true. I was being silly.

Just then, the doorbell rang, chirping a high note. "I'll get it!" I yelled, just in case there was someone else in the house going to get it.

I wrenched open the door to find Cleo and Rikki standing on my doorstep. I nervously laughed. "You guys...walked together?" My nightmares were coming true. They had picked one another over me. What if they abandoned me what I least expected it? What if...

"Nah," Rikki said, interrupting my train of thoughts. "We arrived at the same time. Uh...can we come in?"

"Sure," I said, feeling a bit embarrassed for blocking the entrance and leaving them outside. I moved out of the way and the girls entered, looking around and taking in any changes made to my house.

We settled ourselves on my sofa in the living room, and no one said a word. We just sat there, wallowing in silence.

"So..." I said slowly, wanting to bring up some small talk. I suddenly forgot why I invited them here.

"What happened?" Cleo said, breaking the imaginary small talk and just bursting out. Rikki and I stared blankly at her.

Blushing, she said, "I mean, after Bella...disappeared. We just broke off, like Bella was holding us together, when Emma, you barely even knew her!"

"Yeah," I said quietly. I played with my hair, something I do when I'm nervous or anxious. "All I knew of her was that I hated her." I instantly regretted saying that, and tried to tell myself that this was Rikki and Cleo I was talking to, and they used to be friends with her. "Oh, I'm so sorry!"

"No, you were just speaking the truth," Rikki said. "Don't apologize. Right now, let's talk B. What were your guys messages?"

"Well," Cleo said, breathing out slowly. "I was called down to the principal's office and the gym teacher asked why I wasn't swimming like I was supposed to. I lied, and when I left, I found a note in my locker that said...well, why don't you guys read it?" She pulled out a folded up piece of notebook paper out of her pocket and handed it to me.

"Roses are red, violets are blue. Cleo is a big fat liar; I know she agrees too," I read, taking my time to absorb what was typed up on the paper. "Oh, Cleo," I said, and hugged my sad friend. "Rikki, why don't you tell us your story?"

"Um, I was rehearsing with Zane for the school play when the director yelled cut," Rikki said.

"Wait, you tried out for the school play? With _Zane_?" I said, astonished. I had never seen Rikki as the acting type.

"He lost a bet," she offered. "And yes, I did. After we sort of...stopped being friends, I found a love in acting. Okay, back to my story. The play was set in medieval times, and we had a huge and heavy castle prop. It was about to fall on me when Zane pushed me out of the way. After that, I took a five minute break and went to the bathroom where I checked my text messages, and this is what I found." She flipped through her texts, and found the message. This time, Cleo read it.

"Zane saved the castle prop from killing you. Who's going to stop me?" Cleo read. She gasped, and handed Rikki back her phone. "Wow, mine wasn't _that_ hurtful," she said. "Emma? What about your story?"

"Well, I got an F on a test in language arts," I started, and braced myself for the explosion.

"You got an F?" Cleo yelled, and I covered up her mouth with my hand.

"You want my parents to hear?" I asked. Thank goodness Rikki was just sitting there, mouth wide open.

"How could you get an F? I thought you were a straight A student," Cleo said.

"My grades dropped. What can I say?" I said matter-of-factly. "Let me continue. I got to my locker after a rant from the teacher, and found a text." I handed it off to Rikki, who hadn't gotten a chance to read it yet.

"What happened to goody two shoe's Emma? Did her grades drop dead just when I did?" Rikki read. Confused, she said, "But Bella isn't dead...is she?"

"She's missing, so I don't know," I said. "But these are all signed B, so do you guys really think they're from Bella?"

"Maybe she's back, and she's hinting to it by the texts. Maybe they're over, and she's not sending anymore," Cleo said hopefully.

"If she's hinting, she's not hinting very nicely," I said, my mind flashing back to Rikki's message. As if reading my mind, Rikki nodded.

"This is just all too weird," Rikki said. "Can we just go somewhere else to catch up? Like...the JuiceNet?"

"JuiceNet Café," Cleo said, nodding, trying out the words on her lips. "Perfect."

We all got up out of our seats and headed out.

_**-Cleo POV-**_

"Delicious," I savored, taking another sip of my blueberry juice. "Thanks, Rikki."

"No problem. I knew you'd like it, that's why I suggested it." Rikki fiddled with the straw on her mango juice. "Now mango is my all-time favorite."

"Strawberry banana beats mango hands down," Emma said playfully, taking a sip of her drink. "No doubt about it."

"Strawberry banana is good, but definitely not as good as lime," I put in. I sipped my juice quietly.

We all laughed and began a juice war to see which flavor was the best, which was just settled by us agreeing they were all good.

"I'm glad we're friends again," I said sincerely. "Truth is, I really missed you guys." I felt a lump in my throat.

"Me too," Emma said, smiling warmly.

Rikki put her hand up. "Me three," she said, and pulled us in for a group hug.

We drank our juices for a while, and were about to leave when someone walked up to the JuiceNet's counter and ordered a cranberry booster. All we could see was the back of her, and we studied her shade of red hair. It looked long, coming to the middle of her back.

"Something is familiar about her," I whispered. "That hair shade...but I imagined it shorter."

"Yeah," Rikki said. "I just can't put my finger on it."

The girl received her juice, and slapped down some money on the table. She spun around, revealing to us her face. I gasped inwardly.

"It's..." Rikki started, without finishing.

"No," I whispered, not believing it.

"It's..."

"No."

"It's..."

"NO!" I shouted, and the girl became alert as she looked at us. She waved kindly at us, but there was still something sinister about it. I ducked my head low, not wanting her to see me.

"Come on," Emma said, and we all got up as fast as we could. We pushed everybody out of the way as we made our way into the warm sunshine.

We traveled to the end of the dock before catching our breaths. "Mako, _now_," Emma said sternly, and she dived into the murky waters. Rikki and I looked at each other and shrugged, jumping in after her.

I jet-speed swam to Mako, ignoring the beautiful wildlife growing all around me, and just concentrated on getting to the moon pool. Once I arrived to it, I saw Emma sitting there. I joined her.

Rikki was the last to pop her head up out of the water, and she sat next to us. We all took deep, calming breaths as we tried to register that girl.

"I can't believe..." Rikki started with a sigh, but ended it. After a pause, she started again, "I can't believe _Charlotte_ is back."

**A/N: So, did you like my extra long beginning chapter? I hope that all my chapters are long like this, and detailed. Review, please, they really make my day. Ciao!**


	4. Chapter 2: I Thought They Were Over

**A/N: Thanks to all my reviewers, and here's the next chapter.**

_Mystery is another name for our ignorance; if we were omniscient, all would be perfectly plain._

_-Tryon Edwards_

**Chapter Two: I Thought They Were Over**

_**-Cleo POV-**_

_Beep! Beep! Beep!_ Now who could be making that rather annoying sound? I was trying to sleep, but that noise was keeping me from doing just that.

I wrenched open my eyes and peeked at my alarm clock. It read in bright, bold red letters _5:30 am._

I groaned and stretched. Usually, people that went to my school had to get up around 6:30 am. But I got up and extra hour earlier to run.

I got up out of my bed, leaving behind the warmth of the fuzzy blankets and ventured into the cold unknown. I was pretty chilled, so I slipped into my fuzzy slippers. I knew from school that heat mostly escapes through your feet or head, so I was always to make sure to put on my slippers and get my feet warm so in return I'd be warm.

I went downstairs and into the kitchen. I took out a brand of cereal and poured myself some, along with milk. I took out a spoon and dipped it into the cereal, feeding myself swiftly.

When I was done, I put my bowl in the sink. Being careful as to not get myself wet, I turned on the water and let it lightly rinse the bowl. I shut off the water, and changed into my clothes.

I pulled on my jogging shorts and tank top. I stuck my iPod in a tight pocket on the side of my pants. I brushed out my hair vigorously and tied it up in a ponytail. I traveled downstairs and pulled on my running sneakers.

I got outside, and took a deep breath in, smelling the morning nature. I turned it on and set it to the cycle mode. I cranked it up, realizing that it was playing my favorite song. I looked out into the horizon, planned my route even though it was the same one I took everyday, and took off running.

I felt the wind whip on my cheeks, cold and refreshing. I could see early risers coming out of their houses to pick up their newspapers, and once or twice I passed joggers such as myself.

I began to feel burning pain, but just as my coach for cross-country told us to, I kept running through it. I blurred out everything else, and it was just me and my running. I have never felt more at peace in the world than when I run.

Sooner than I had expected, I had ran my miles and arrived back at the house. I pulled my iPod earphones out of my ears, silencing the song it was playing. I shut it down, and headed inside.

"Oh, look, Cleo's back from her jogging," my dad said, beaming at me. "Earlier than usual. Is this a record?"

I looked over to the clock, and shook my head in dismay. "No. Short by two minutes." I turned my head back to him and gave him a dazzling white smile. "But I will someday, dad."

"Yeah, right," snorted Kim, who was sitting at the table, eating some fruit in yogurt. "_I_ could beat you, Cleo."

"Yeah?" I said, trying to intimidate her. "Alright. After school. Three miles. How does that sound?"

She instantly paled, putting down her spoon that held a mouthful of strawberry yogurt. "Uh, I was kidding."

I laughed, and after a while, she joined in. Kim and I had gotten closer since I first became a mermaid, which was a good thing. Still, she had her flaws, and we did fight over things constantly. But it had gotten better.

I smiled, thinking back to the first time I challenged her to a race. I had just started training, and was pretty good at running. I had beaten her by a good three minutes. After that, she had never wanted to race me anymore.

If I hadn't trained when we raced, I probably would have beaten her anyway, due to the fact that I was older and had longer legs than her.

"I'm going to get going to school, okay?" I said, picking up my backpack. "Bye, dad." He nodded at me, silently exchanging his good-bye.

For a good measure, I began jogging to school. I was pretty excited for school (creepy, huh?) mostly because I was now friends with Cleo and Emma again. I wanted to hang out with them much more, but didn't want to creep them out.

I instantly stopped when I thought of Charlotte. Wouldn't she be at school? I grimaced inwardly at that thought. No _way_ I was going to let Charlotte ruin my senior year, though. I wouldn't allow it. I just wouldn't.

I caught up to the school, where I looked the massive, looming school square in the eye. I found Emma, Rikki, and Lewis already there, waiting for me.

"Slow poke," Rikki said, poking me playfully. I just smiled. Rikki really hadn't changed at all when we were separated, besides the whole acting thing.

"I can't believe you guys are friends again!" said Lewis. "You know that Cleo just has not been the same without you two."

"Lewis," I said embarrassedly, like saying it to a dad showing your boyfriend baby pictures of you. "Please."

"Sorry, Cleo, I've just never seen you so happy," Lewis said, smiling delicately.

"I don't blame you Cleo. Zane's pretty happy we're friends again too," Rikki said. "What about Ash, Emma?"

"Yeah," she said dreamily as we entered the school building. "He knows I had been pretty upset that we weren't friends, and when I told him the news, he was practically bouncing off the walls in joy." We all giggled as Emma looked away from us. "Hey, here's my locker. Bye, guys. See you later." She gave a little wave and parted.

Rikki soon left our group and went her own way to her locker. That only left Lewis and I.

He followed me to my locker and watched as I put in my combination. I didn't care as his eyes lingered over my lock; he already knew my combination.

I crammed my books into my overly disastrous locker before slamming it shut. I looked over into Lewis's beautiful eyes. I took his warm hands in mine, and he slowly came closer to my lips.

As we were about to kiss, I pulled away, still grasping his hands. "Um," I said, clearing my throat. "Sorry. But...Lewis?"

"Yeah, Cleo?" he said, his eyes lingering in mine. They were filled with hurt that I didn't kiss him, and I wanted so badly to correct my mistake.

"Do you love me?" I said, taking in deep breaths. I looked up into his eyes, waiting for an answer, and making sure it was truthful.

"Of course," he said. "I always had." I smiled, knowing from his eyes that it was true. I saw no hint of a lie in them.

"Good," I said. "Because Charlotte's back." Before he could react, I pulled him closer, sealing the distance between us with our lips.

_**-Emma POV-**_

"Hey, you're not abandoning me, right?" asked a voice behind me. I closed my locker and spun around to face a smiling Jenna.

"Abandoning you?" I said blandly. "Why would you think that?" I licked my dry lips, but silently cursed as I did so. Licking your lips made them dry out. I made a silent note to self to apply some chap stick.

"Well, it's pretty obvious Rikki and Cleo are your friends again. I just don't want to be left behind." She looked at the ground with obvious embarrassment.

"Oh, come on! No matter how many friends I get, we will still be besties," I said, using the uncomfortably cute pet name for best friends. She smiled at my try.

"Hey, I have an idea!" I said. "Why don't you meet them?"

"Oh...I don't know. What if they don't like me?" That was Jenna, always the self conscious one.

"They will," I insisted. "Come over to my house after school. We can meet up with them at Cleo's house or the JuiceNet or something."

"Okay," she said unsteadily. "But if they hate me, it's on your head."

I faked being scared and shielded myself from her. She laughed giddily and waved good-bye to me, informing me that she wanted to get to her class before the tardy bell rung.

I took my time gathering my books up and heading to class. I observed that the hallways were thinning out, a sign that the bell was going to ring soon and I'd better get a move on. But I was too preoccupied in my own thoughts of Jenna meeting Emma, Cleo and Rikki to take notice.

I was almost at the class when the bell rung. I was surprised; I hadn't known it to be so soon. I rushed towards the classroom, and skidded to a halt in the doorframe. I spotted the teacher with his back turned, scribbling something on the blackboard. I planned to sneak into the class and quickly take my seat, but someone in place of the usually empty spot where it used to hold a girl that moved to southern Australia caught my attention. Her red hair flew around as she spun to look at me. She gave me a half smile and a wave, but all I could do was stare open mouthed at her.

"Ahem," Mr. Green said, clearing his throat. "Emma, would you care to join the rest of the class?"

There was a sea of giggles as I plopped down at my seat, a deep red blooming on my face. I tried to stay out of attention for the rest of the day, and made even more sure not to look at the new girl, Charlotte Watsford.

Class passed by swiftly, and as the bell rang, I picked up my stuff and power walked out the door.

"Emma?" said a voice behind me, and I cringed. I had been dreading talking to her. Silently, I spun around.

"Can we talk outside of the classroom?" Charlotte asked nervously, her eyes glancing over to Mr. Green, who looked like he was eavesdropping.

"With you? Hell no," I said bluntly, and turned around to exit the room as quick as I could. But Charlotte stopped me, putting a hand on my shoulder.

"Please?" she pleaded. "Thirty seconds. You can count."

I sighed outwardly as if I were doing her some big favor by talking to her. "Thirty seconds _only._" I led her out of the room and we stopped by a wall in the hall.

"Start talking," I said rudely.

"Okay, let me start at the beginning. I am so incredibly sorry for acting like a jerk before. I was crazy and uncontrollable. I know you will never forgive me, but I just wanted to let you know that. Second, I didn't come back to ruin your life. My mom got transferred back here, and I wanted desperately to go to another school for you and Cleo and Rikki's sakes, but I was within the boundaries for the school and I had no other choice. I just want to say that there is no doubt that you'll be seeing me everyday, but you don't have to talk to me. I don't want to come off as a threat, is all." She took a deep breath after getting it all off her chest.

I sat in stunned silence for a while, just listening to the guilty breathing of Charlotte. I looked up into her eyes, and said, "Really?"

"Really," she said, smiling. "So can we just...start over?"

All hope for this girl was lost. "Charlotte, we've been through way too much to just forget all of it and never look back. But I'll take your suggestion, and not see you as a threat." I turned away, and left.

_**-Rikki POV-**_

_Zane saved the castle prop from killing you. Who's going to stop me?_

_-B_

I couldn't stop from reading the text message over and over again. I would reread each word again gently and with fragile, really taking in the meaning (more than it was intended.) And no matter how many times I read it, how many times a cold chill ran up my spine, and how many times I wondered if she was serious, I just couldn't tear my eyes away.

"Hey, what are you doing?" an all too familiar voice asked. I snapped my phone shut and swiveled my neck around, looking at a smiling Cleo. She had her backpack slung over one shoulder, and one hand was holding the strap to it that was planted on her shoulder. The other was by her side, grasping a water bottle and granola bar. "Mind if I sit?" She gestured to the seat next to me on the picnic table I was sitting at.

"Of course," I said, a little troubled that she asked. Not that I didn't want her sitting here, it was just that back when we best friends, she would probably just plop down without asking. That was what friends did. But it was a little uncomfortable around each other, but we were trying to get used to one another once more.

It was our lunch period, and I, not feeling hungry, made my way back here to get some fresh air and breath a little. Somehow my hand had gotten hold of my phone, and I couldn't help myself as I scrolled through the texts, looking for the special one.

Cleo sat down next to me, and cracked open her water bottle. She took a giant swig of it, and wiped her mouth. She then unwrapped her chocolate chip granola bar and, seeing that I had no lunch, broke it in half and offered some to me.

I politely nodded, and took the granola bar from her hungrily. As I stuffed it in my mouth, I said between chews, "So, where's Emma?"

"I don't know," shrugged Cleo, taking a small bite out of one end of the granola bar. "Last time I saw her she was talking on the phone to Ash."

"Okay," I said, half-smiling.

"So, what have you been up to?" Cleo asked, glancing at my phone. She must have seen me on my phone.

I sighed in defeat, and flipped open the phone, handing it to Cleo. "I can't stop reading the text! It disturbs me so much! Who is B, anyway?" I took my head in my hands, sighing in dismay.

Cleo shook her head angrily at the phone screen. "I thought we agreed that B was a one time thing, just trying to get us to be friends again. It was probably just a random stranger who noticed how sad we were without each other, and sent those anonymous texts. Whoever it was," she said, and slung an arm around me, "She did the right thing. We're friends again, aren't we?"

"Well, yeah," I admitted. "I guess." But that text seemed like much more to me. If it was just some random person trying to get us back together, why did they send such weird and mysterious texts? And not to mention my death threat?

"Good," Cleo said, and smugly handed back my phone.

"Cleo, what did you do?" I stared gaping at the phone, which now read, _Message Deleted._

"Like I said, B was a one time thing," insisted Cleo. "Deleting the message will be better for you, you see. It'll take your mind off of it."

We sat there in silence, and I finally picked up the rest of the granola bar and ate it. Cleo finished off her granola bar, and got up. "Hey, I'll be inside for the rest of the time. I'm going to meet up with Lewis and—," She was cut off by my phone playing my text ring tone.

I looked up at Cleo, fear obviously written across my face. She took in a deep breath, and said, "Rikki, please. The B thing is over. It'll never happen again. The text is probably from Zane or Emma."

"You're right," I said, but I didn't hold much enthusiasm as I flipped open the phone and hit, _View Message._ Cleo started to leave, just in case it was Zane and I wanted privacy in viewing the message, but it wasn't him.

"Wait, stay Cleo," I ordered her, and she obeyed, sitting down.

"What?" Cleo asked. "Is it Emma?"

"No," I whispered, closing my eyes. I reopened them, studying the fogged up screen from where I breathed on it. "And you said B was a once time thing, huh?"

Cleo froze, looking scared. I bit my lip, and began to read out loud,

_You're too busy getting worked up over one death threat that you couldn't come to the conclusion that there are plenty more to come._

_-B_

"Oh my God," Cleo said, closing her eyes. "I'm sorry Rikki, I thought they were over. I guess they aren't."

"We have to warn Emma. She thinks they're over, too. Better safe than sorry," I said, and we both looked at each other. After a moment, we all gathered up our stuff and headed out.

_**-Emma POV-**_

I scuffled through my stuff, taking out random books and papers and organizing them back in their places. I threw out different papers that were shoved carelessly into my locker and organized them into two piles: things I needed (mostly homework and study guides) and things I didn't need (mostly old homework, graded papers/tests, and handouts that I didn't need because we were done with that unit of study.) When I was done, I threw out the things I didn't need, and put the things I needed in their designated folders. I then replaced all the textbooks, folders, and binders back in my locker, organized my other stuff like a calendar I kept hung up on my locker door, and proudly marveled at it. Done! I was done cleaning out my locker that was overdue for its cleaning.

I shut my locker tight, trying not to tousle the things inside as they were so neatly put away. As I stared at the outside of my locker for a fraction of a second, I heard a, "Emma! Emma!" coming from down the hall.

"What are you guys doing here? Shouldn't you be at lunch?" I asked as I studied my two out of breath friends.

"We were," insisted Cleo. "But then we got this text." She nudged Rikki, who then handed me her phone.

I looked at the two queerly and just looked at the screen. I slowly read the text, and my heart froze as I saw that it was signed by B.

"Wow," I said, handing the phone back to Rikki. "I guess B's games aren't over."

"Who the hell is B anyway?" Rikki said, putting her hands on her hips, obviously distraught that she hadn't figured it out yet.

"I um...had a theory," I said, embarrassed. All eyes turned to me.

"Really? What is it?" Cleo asked, interested in my hypothesis.

"Bella," I whispered, short and simple, sweet and to the point.

"Bella?" Rikki said, whispering like me too. "But...I thought she was dead."

"She's not dead," insisted Cleo. "She's missing. That doesn't necessarily means she's dead." It looked like Cleo still hadn't given up hope that Bella was still out there, even though the odds were against her.

"Alright," Rikki said slowly. "Let's assume it _is_ Bella. What does she want to do with us? Why can't she just come to us in person and tell us she's back? More importantly, why is she sending us such hateful messages?"

"God, you're full of questions," I said, facing the two. "Too bad we have no answers."

The bell rang, marking the end of the senior lunch period. I said, "Okay, on a lighter note, I'm going to come over with a friend after school, okay? She's a really great person," I said, meaning Jenna.

"Okay," Cleo said, smiling. "Can't wait to meet her." We all waved bye to each other, and I went about opening my locker _again_.

OoOoO

"You'll love them," I gushed, leading Jenna down the sidewalk. "Cleo has brown hair, and has a more shy personality. Not as much as before, though. Her boyfriend is Lewis McCartney, you know, that kid in your history class? Okay, so then there's Rikki. She's got a more fiery attitude, it's so cool. She's got blonde curly hair and blue eyes. Her boyfriend is Zane Bennett, who you probably know as 'that rich, snobby kid.' So they..."

"Emma," Jenna cut me off. "I get it. You can spare me the physical details. Let me just meet them, okay?" She smiled a dazzling smile at me.

I nodded. "Sure. And sorry, I'm just so nervous."

"Why?" Jenna asked, genuinely curious. "The worst thing that could happen is that we won't like each other. Not a big deal."

"I know," I said, sighing outwardly. "It's just that I have had a bad experience with first acquaintances. See, when I got back from my world tour, Rikki and Cleo showed me their new friend, and we didn't exactly get along."

"Oh. Who was she?" Jenna asked, then quickly put in, "But if you don't want to talk about it, that's okay."

"That's okay," I said with a nervous laugh, and I rubbed my arm to keep out the chills. I lowered my voice to a whisper and said, "Her name was Bella."

"Bella Hartley? The girl who disappeared?" Jenna asked, widely curious.

I gulped in a fresh breath of air, as if Bella was watching us then and there, and choking off all oxygen to me. "Yeah," I whispered. "She, ah, disappeared the night I met her. We were having a sleepover," I explained. The tears that were threatening to spill did. I tried to wipe those traitor tears away, but they kept coming. "And I can't help but think it was all my fault, because it was," I said, choking down on my sobs.

Jenna wrapped her arms around me, tightly squeezing me in a hug. She then stroked my hair in a comforting way. "Don't worry. Whatever Bella did, I won't do. Okay?"

"Promise?" I said.

"Promise," she confirmed with a smile and a quick nod of the head.

"Okay," I said. "That's all I need." We continued to walk to Cleo's house.

Jenna walked home with me after school to go to Cleo's house like I promised Jenna and the girls. We might even go to the JuiceNet later.

"Here we are," I said, gesturing to Cleo's house like it was my own and I was showing off.

Jenna gave an approving nod. "Cozy," she said. "Let's meet the girls, shall we?"

I smiled, taken by her happiness and enthusiasm. I was thrilled that Jenna already was looking forward to meeting the girls, and that this would probably end up the opposite of the Bella thing.

I rapped twice on the door, and then waited for an answer. Fifteen and a half seconds later, Cleo opened the door with a huge smile on her face.

"Hey Emma," she said, expecting her and Jenna to be here. She turned to Jenna with the same eager smile. "And you must be Jenna." Cleo extended her arm with politeness.

"Yeah," Jenna said, taking her hand. "And you must be Cleo." Jenna smiled, and said, "Hey, Emma, you were right. She does have brown hair!"

While Jenna erupted in giggles I blushed a deep crimson red while Cleo gave me a, "What?" look. I flashed her back a, "I'll tell you later."

Cleo invited the giddy Jenna and I inside the house. Jenna's eyes scoped the area as Cleo directed me to set down my jacket on one of the jacket hooks.

"Here, Jenna, you get put your jacket on a hook next to Emma's," Cleo said, motioning towards where I hung up my jacket.

"I'm okay," insisted Jenna. "I always get cold, so it's best I just keep it on."

"Suit yourself," Cleo said with a small smile, which Jenna returned. I wanted to cheer in victory. They liked each other! Now to see about Rikki...

We headed upstairs, where we went to Cleo's room. Once Cleo creaked open her door, I was pelted in the face with a potato chip.

"Attackers!" I heard a cry, and saw Rikki sprawled on the bed, a bag of potato chips on her stomach. When she saw me, she put her fingers to her lips, trying to hide her smile. "Oh, sorry Emma."

"Thanks," I said sarcastically, glancing at the discarded chip at my feet.

"Rikki," Cleo scolded, picking up the chip. "I told you not to make a mess of my room. Where did you get that bag?"

Rikki pointed blindly to the right of her. "Kim's room," she explained, munching on a chip.

Cleo nodded slowly, and Rikki sat herself up on the bed and got up. "Hey, I'm Rikki. Are you Jenna?" Rikki said to Jenna.

"Yeah," Jenna said, and shook hands with Rikki. She then made her way to the bed and grabbed a chip in the bag. "So, what now?"

"Are you guys eating dinner here?" Cleo offered, planting herself on the bed too.

"I'm not doing anything special," I said, and Rikki and Jenna nodded in agreement. I turned to Cleo. "What are you guys having?"

"We're doing a cookout. Hotdogs and hamburgers," Cleo said.

"Yum," Jenna said. "I'm in."

"Me too," I said.

"Me three," Rikki said, smiling.

I finally felt at peace. I was back to being friends with Rikki and Cleo, and B wasn't bothering us at the moment (though I knew she'd be back.)

"There," I said, typing in the last numbers into my phone. "I entered you guys back into my contacts. I just need your picture profiles." I held up the phone to Rikki. "Say cheese."

She struck a pose, looking like a ridiculous model. I giggled as I hit save. I them held it up to Cleo. "Say cheese."

She smiled more normally than Rikki (Rikki was never normal) and I snapped the picture, saving it to her profile.

"Perfect," I congratulated. I fell back on the bed, making a big thump. "So what now?"

"Let's go downstairs and see if we have any other snacks besides potato chips. I'm getting sick of them," Cleo said, motioning to the bag. I nodded, and we all got up to go downstairs.

Kim was there, hanging out with a red head with delicate brown eyes. They looked up when we came, and Kim groaned. "Oh, no, Cleo's here with her friends. And some other girl," she said, suspiciously looking Jenna over. Her friend just shyly shuffled her feet. "Let's go to the JuiceNet. Better than here," Kim continued, and led her conscious friend out the door.

"Hm," Jenna said. "Was that your sister?"

"Yeah," Cleo said. "If she says anything embarrassing at _all_, you'd be better off to ignore it."

"Okay," Jenna said, smiling. She had a sister too, and always complained how annoying she was. Her sister was twenty four years old and lived in another house, and you'd think by now she'd be okay, but Jenna always complained how much her sister was a pain in the ass.

Cleo looked around her cabinet, and found some junk food, which Rikki attacked, and some random cherries that were sitting in her fridge.

"Cherries!" Jenna yelled, and grabbed the bag. Quickly, she popped the cherry in her mouth, stem and all.

"You eat the stem?" I asked, bewildered, and she just smiled and shook her head.

She swallowed, and then stuck her tongue out. On it was a tied cherry stem.

"Cool," I said, laughing. How could I have thought she would eat it?

"I can do that too," Cleo proudly pronounced, and plucked the cherry off the stem. She threw the stem in her mouth, and moved it around a bit. After that, she took it out of her mouth, and a tight looking knot was in the middle of it.

"Nice," I said. "But who can do it faster?" I looked at both Cleo and Jenna, who both had competitive smiles planted on their faces. Funny, I never knew Cleo to be the competitive type.

They each took a cherry, and removed the cherry from the stem. When I cried, "Go!" they each popped the stem in their mouth and worked on it.

It turned out they both tied, pulling out their stems at exactly the same time. I pronounced them both winners, and they shook on it.

I smiled, having a good time. I was having such a great time that when Jenna picked up her water bottle then accidentally spilled it, I didn't notice until it dripped on my shirt, soaking a small portion of my stomach.

"Oh, Emma, sorry," Jenna apologized, but I was too busy rushing towards the bathroom, with Cleo and Rikki on my tail to help me dry off.

On my trip there, I tried rubbing the wet spot, wishing it to dry, but it only spread. I ran fast, and hopped into the Sertori's bathroom.

"What do we do? Jenna's coming," Cleo said, looking frantically behind her. I pushed them out of the bathroom.

"Distract her. Get her to go back to the kitchen, then when she leaves, come in and help me dry off," I said, just as I fell backwards. Cleo shut the door tight, and I sat up.

I reached up towards the door handle, wanting to lock it, but my tail was too heavy to lift high, and I could reach it. I decided it wouldn't matter; Rikki and Cleo were guarding me from Jenna.

I distracted myself from my jumbled thoughts as I listened to the conversation outside.

"Is Emma in there?" I heard a muffled Jenna voice on the other end of the thick wood door.

"Yeah," Rikki said dumbly.

"Shouldn't we go in there to see if she's okay or something?" asked Jenna.

"She just wants to be alone to dry off. Why don't you go back to the kitchen and polish up on your cherry tying skills, because I will dominate you next time," Cleo said playfully.

I almost heard the smile on Jenna's face. "Okay, you're on." I heard her turn to go, then turn back. "Tell Emma I'm sorry, okay?"

"It's okay," Cleo said, speaking for me. "It was only a little water. She probably didn't want her shirt ruined or anything."

I rolled my eyes at Cleo's stupid excuse, but thanked my lucky stars that Jenna actually leaved. About ten seconds after she left, Cleo and Rikki stumbled in.

"Is she gone?" I asked as the two took position, one at each of my sides.

"Yeah, she went to go train for the imaginary cherry knot tying competition," Rikki said, pushing a strand of her curly hair behind her ear. She stuck out her firm hand over my tail. "I'll steam dry."

Cleo slapped Rikki's hand away, and Rikki cradled it carefully with a hurt expression on her face. "We can't steam dry her inside, Rikki! Do you remember what happened last time when you tried that? The dew droplets collected on my lamp and dripped into Hector's bowl!"

"Yeah, but Hector isn't in the bathroom," Rikki said, crossing her arms. "Plus, the water I'm evaporating is normal water, not that magical weird water that made Hector float." Her hand returned to my tail, and she began to crunch it shut.

"No!" Cleo cried, pushing Rikki's hand away, but it was too late. A roll of steam floated up towards the ceiling. "Rikki! It may be normal water, but if that normal water drips back down on us, we'll pop tails."

"Oops," Rikki said, shrugging like it was no big deal. Cleo, upon seeing a few droplets about to come down, grabbed two towels. She threw one at Rikki, and covered her head with the towel so she wouldn't get wet.

The droplets fell, only a few getting Cleo and Rikki on the head, but they had the towels to protect themselves. I just covered my head with my hands, realizing it really didn't matter if I had a shield because I already had my tail.

"Is it done?" asked Cleo, not unfolding from her crouched position, holding the towel protectively over her head.

"Yeah, it's over," I said. They took the towels off their heads and onto me, rubbing my tail hard.

After a good seven or eight minutes, my tail finally disappeared and was replaced by my legs. I smiled at their return, and we all went downstairs.

Jenna was there, holding her head in her hands. Upon our arrival, she smiled and said, "Emma, I'm so sorry I spilled water on you!"

"It's not your fault," I said. "I overreacted. Can we just forget about it? Besides," I said, looking slyly to Cleo and Jenna, "I heard you two have a contest to finish?"

That launched another few contests. Sometimes Cleo turned out winner, sometimes Jenna, and sometimes they just about tied. All I remember after that was it ending in a group hug.

My phone vibrated, and I quickly excused myself from the group who were watching Rikki trying to succeed in tying a knot in a cherry stem with her mouth.

I flipped open my phone, and hit, _Open Message._ I quickly scanned the message, feeling ice in my chest as I did so.

_Cleo, Rikki and you all have a secret. The thing is, you guys are too oblivious to notice that Jenna has a secret just as big as yours. Everything is not what it seems._

_-B_

I gulped, and then glanced over at the girls, who were cheering on Rikki. I caught Jenna's eye, and she turned and smiled very friendly at me. I smiled also, very wearily. All I knew is that I could never see Jenna the same again.

**A/N: And that concludes that chapter! I hope you all liked it, and don't forget to review. Ciao!**


	5. Chapter 3: I Thought She Was Gone

A/N: Thanks to my reviewers, you guys are the best. I need to answer a question one of my reviewers asked...

1fanofh2o—Good question, and I was waiting for someone to ask it. When I first thought up with a companion for Emma, I immediately thought of Jenna. I thought it was a cute name and for some reason it just clicked in my mind. Once I'd realized that there was a character on the actual show named Jenna, I didn't want readers to think there were related in any way, but I didn't want to go back and change Jenna's name, because to me there was absolutely no replacement (lol my mind was made up.) So I decided just to wait for someone to ask, just like you did! XD

This also brings me to the fact of Jenna's appearance. I made her appearance like some actor that I can't remember the name of. She had light brown skin, kind of African American, green eyes maybe? A bit like Pheobe Tonkin. I want to put a picture of her on my profile but I can't figure out the name! Anyway sorry I'm rambling, on with the story!

_The good die young—because they see it's no use living if you've got to be good_

_-John Barrymore_

Chapter Three: I Thought She Was Gone

_-Emma POV-_

"Hey," a voice said behind me, and I recognized it to be Jenna. In alarm that it _was_ her, I choked on my water.

"What?" she said, sitting down next to me at the lunch table. She smiled at Cleo and Rikki, who were sitting across from me. The girls gave her a friendly smile and wave.

"Nothing," I mumbled. Humiliated, I twisted the cap back on the bottle and set it aside. I looked over to her, and she stared back at me. I felt my spine freeze up, locking it into a straight ice spine, not allowing me to bend or move.

Why was it so hard sitting next to Jenna? We'd be friends for about a month, so why was I so uncomfortable? I could answer the question myself, but the answer was ridiculous. Why had I been so messed up over that dumb message from B? What did she know about secrets? How would she know if Jenna had a huge secret or not? B was just a weirdo stalker, but deep down, I knew better. I knew I shouldn't mess with B, because she seemed to know everything about us.

We all ate in silence, like I was wallowing them in my uncomfortable bubble too. All that went between us was the scraping of our utensils against our lunch trays, and our chewing. Other than that, there was the hum of commotion coming from everyone else in the lunchroom, but that was about it.

I heard a cough, and I easily recognized it to be Jenna's. I just continued to stare listlessly at my tray, shuffling my fork across the surface, leaving vague scratch marks.

"Emma?" said Jenna, and I instantly froze up.

Not looking up from my tray, I murmured, "Oh, um, I don't really feel that good, sorry, excuse me." Eyes locked to the ground, I got up and shuffled to throw out my remaining food on my tray. After I did and returned the tray, I walked into the bathroom. I locked myself in a stall and pulled out my cell phone that was ever so conveniently tucked away in my jeans pocket. I unearthed the text I received from B yesterday, and racked my eyes over it a thousand times.

_Don't break down Emma,_ said a voice in my head. _Think rationally. What do you usually do when you receive a text?_ My eyes lit up, thinking now. I knew what I needed to do. What did I do? I replied to the text.

I hit reply, ready to give B a piece of my mind, asking it why it was stalking me, and what it knew about Jenna's secret. Most importantly, even if it didn't answer my questions, I'd ask who it was.

_Cannot Reply, Number Not Found_, it read. I slapped myself on my forehead, thinking about how stupid I was. Of course I couldn't reply, B had sent a text from an anonymous number, just so it wouldn't show up on my screen.

"Stupid piece of crap," I said, talking to my phone, even though I knew it wasn't the phone's fault. It was stupid old B's fault who doesn't even have the courage to text so I could see her number.

"Emma?" asked a voice, and I jumped at the sound. Clutching my hand to my heart, I unlocked the stall door and pushed myself out.

Upon seeing Cleo and Rikki, I said, "God, you guys scared me."

"Sorry," Cleo said, shrugging defensively. She motioned towards the door. "What was that by the way? Why are you so scared of Jenna all of a sudden?"

Wordlessly, I handed Cleo my cell. "Check the message from B. She sent me a text yesterday during Jenna's visit."

Looking curiously at me, Cleo snatched the phone from me. She scrolled through the texts and chose the designated one. Cleo read it in her head, but mouthed the words while Rikki got on her toes trying to see over Cleo's head behind her. When Cleo was done, she handed my phone off to the anxious Rikki, who took the phone eagerly and read the text like this was some mystery to be solved and she wanted to see the clues first.

"You don't think she's..." Cleo started as Rikki handed the phone back to me.

"A mermaid?" I asked, receiving the phone and sliding it back into my pocket. "I don't know. Have you guys ever seen her swim in public?"

"We just met her yesterday," Cleo said, shrugging. "You've known her for a while. So answer your own question."

I thought for a minute, racking my brain of my memories of Jenna. Finally, I slowly shook my head. "No, I never have."

"Great!" Rikki said. "Let's see if she is."

"How are we going to do that?" I asked, putting my hands on my hips.

Rikki raised her eyebrows at me, pursing her lips in a smug way like she was about to win and knew it.

Finally getting it, I put up my hands in a defense position. "Oh no, I am _not_ spilling water on her in a crowded cafeteria with everyone watching!"

"Then don't," hissed Cleo silently. "Get her in here. You distract her, and then I'll use my powers on the sink to get her wet. I'll say it was a sink malfunction or something."

I sighed. I had known Jenna for a while, and I knew she probably would _not_ like having random water sprayed over her. Also, she was my friend. Could I really do that to her? I tossed around ideas in my head until I settled on that I would do it, but only because it would find out if she was one of us.

"Alright," I said, sighing again. "I'll do it. But I won't be happy about it."

Cleo clapped her hands twice like a kindergarten teacher trying to get the attention of the children. "Then it's settled. Let's go."

I made my way back to the lunch table, where I tapped Jenna's shoulder. She turned around and raised her eyebrows, giving me a, "What happened back there?" look.

"Come on Jenna," I said, like telling a little kid to come with me. "Bathroom, now."

She sighed, rolling her eyes and getting up. She had every right to be upset with me, so I just let her, hoping she'd understand me later when this whole situation worked itself out.

"Hey guys," Jenna said, acknowledging Cleo and Rikki, who were just standing there, pretending to dry their hands as I talked to Jenna. They nodded, and then continued to dry their hands, even though they weren't even wet, obviously.

"What do you want?" Jenna said, talking to me, and gratefully having her back turned to Cleo and Rikki. They looked at each other and nodded, stealthily making their way to the sink.

"Uh," I said slowly, shifting my weight from one foot to the other. "I just want to apologize."

Jenna's eyes rose, looking me over to see if I was lying. "Keep talking," she said smoothly, no hint of emotion showing in her voice.

I sighed, and then paced back and forth. "Sorry I've been avoiding you lately. It's just that things are really complicated, and if you were in my position, you'd be as mixed up as I am. All I'm trying to say is," I said, taking a deep breath, "I'm sorry."

Jenna smiled, showing her delightfully pearly white teeth. "Oh, Emma, apology accepted!"

I smiled too, and at that exact moment, Cleo used her powers to snake out a water ball from the faucet, and throw it at Jenna. It hit her on her back, and she spun around from the sudden impact of the cold wetness.

"Whoa, Jenna, the sink just, like, sprayed you!" Cleo said, like she couldn't believe that the faucet was broken.

"Yeah, I know," Jenna said, feeling her back for the wet. I watched her, waiting for the running away part, but it never happened. "Do any of you guys have a paper towel or something I could use to dry my back with?"

We all slowly shook our heads, realizing now that a good twelve seconds had passed, and close to nothing had happened. I shrugged, trying to use body language to say, "Oh, well, no biggie," when it really did get on my nerves a bit. If she wasn't a mermaid, but still had a secret, what was it?

Rikki's eyes lit up like she knew what I was thinking, and had the answer. I looked at her quizzically. When Jenna looked away to go look for some paper towels, Rikki pointed at her frantically and mouthed something, but I couldn't understand. I ended up mouthing, "What?" and she gave me a, "I'll tell you later," look.

Jenna smiled, spinning around with a handful of paper towels at hand. "There we go," she said, and started drying herself.

We just watched in stunned awe as she quickly dried herself, and then trashed the damp towels. When she was done, she slowly walked out of the bathroom, with all of us watching her leave.

"What now?" Cleo asked, sighing. "If she's not a mermaid, then who is she?"

"I think I know," Rikki said, whispering. She lifted her chin and looked at me directly. "But Emma won't like it."

I raised my eyebrows. "Why?" I drew out, waiting to hear one of Rikki's wacky theories.

"I think...I think Jenna is B." Rikki said, fiddling with her phone uncomfortably, like B could hear us now and she was not happy that we were guessing.

"What?" I whispered.

"Told you you wouldn't like it," Rikki said, in the "I told you so," voice.

"That doesn't make any sense," Cleo said, siding with me. "Jenna wouldn't give away her _own_ secret. Plus, she doesn't know about Bella." Cleo turned to me. "She doesn't know about Bella, right?"

Stunned, I turned to them. "She knows about Bella," I breathed. "I told her."

"Then she's B!" blurted Rikki.

"That still doesn't make sense. I told her _after_ some of B's messages came. I told her on the walk to Cleo's house to meet you guys. If Jenna was B, she'd have to know before I told her." I shrugged. "It's too early to make guesses anyway. The mystery is too blurry."

"At least we've knocked one person off our list," Cleo added, smiling hopefully, but by the look on Rikki's face, I wasn't entirely sure she agreed.

OoOoO

_-Cleo POV-_

Somehow, this seemed like an old routine that was used too many times.

I've experienced this before, the shouting, the pathetic and childish name calling, and the same chill when I realized that they didn't want me to hear this, but I was hearing it anyway. I had grown so accustomed of saying happily good-bye to it, but here I was now, my ear pressed up to the front door, listening to the dispute of my divorced parents over the phone.

I gently laid my backpack onto the cement front stoop, putting it in the shade of the jutting roof and away from the harsh rays of the sun. I was careful not to jostle myself—it might interrupt a word or two of their conversation.

"No, not for a year!" bellowed my dad, and I heard a slam. Maybe it was his fist against a wood table, or a wall, but whatever it was, it didn't sound like he was happy.

The only reason I knew that on the other end of the line was my mother—who had moved western Australia after the divorce—was because of all the yelling. My dad typically was a calm and well-mannered guy. The only time I heard him yell like this was just before the divorce. The only person that made him upset was my mother, and I could pretty much infer the rest.

"Are we talking about Cleo or Kim here?" he asked, and my blood froze at the sound of my name. "Both?" he said, astonished and disgusted. "No way! I'm sorry Bev, but that cannot happen."

Well, and there was also the fact that my dad just said my mom's name. Oh, why had I gone home early? After school, Emma, Rikki and I all went for a swim to Mako. I left before the two, insisting that I should probably get home before my dad would wonder where I was. Maybe I could have at least stayed an extra ten minutes to avoid hearing this phone call.

"I don't care what you think, no means no!" My father yelled, and it was all I could do not to break down in hysterics right then. Hadn't my parents settled their disputes? Weren't they done arguing? I wondered how Sam thought about this. I cautiously glanced to the driveway. Sam was still at work. I knew that Sam was really laid back and relaxed, but I even thought she would not be cool with this bickering, especially between her husband and her husband's ex wife.

I took a few deep calming breaths to slow my thinking down. After I thought I was totally mellow, I took a step inside my house.

It was eerily quiet inside the house. My dad looked up at me, and then looked at the phone in his hand. Without saying a word of good-bye, he pressed the end button. Then he beamed at me proudly, like my arrival just made his whole day. "Hey, Cleo, where've you been?"

"Who was that?" I asked, and when he wore a mask of confusion on his face, I gestured towards the phone.

He shook his head. "No one important. Just some guy trying to sell car insurance."

"Don't lie to me," I said, trying to breath even between my teeth.

My dad sighed, rubbing his temples with his fingers. "That was your mom, Cleo."

I guessed that much. "And what did she want?"

"She said she missed you guys very much, and wanted to see you guys. Soon," he added the last word like it tasted bad.

"Like, she'd come here and sleep here?" After seeing the expression of his face, I quickly said, "Or at a hotel?"

"No, not exactly," he said slowly. "More like you and Kim go to see her?"

The thought of a trip to see my mother kind of thrilled me. "For how long, like a week or two weeks?" I began to get pretty excited at the thought. How did I think this was bad?

"Longer than a week," he said, exasperated. "More like a year, if not more."

I just gaped at him, the words flying through the air, but not being processed through my cluttered head. "A...year? She can't do that, can she?"

"If she gets the right papers, of course she can," my dad said, sighing. Now I got what he was getting worked up over, and I didn't really blame him. "She's even thinking of getting you guys to move in with her."

I looked at the ceiling, hoping that the tears threatening to fall would fall back into my eyes, and be saved for another time I really _did_ want to cry. "I don't want to leave for a year," I whispered, thinking of Mako Island, Emma and Rikki, Lewis, and my dad. "I can't."

"I know. I'll get this all sorted out, you'll see," dad said, putting a hand on my shoulder, causing me to look down at him.

I took a deep breath to control myself. "Okay, I believe you. I'm going to go on a walk, okay?" I gave him a face that said, "I look sad, but if you protest, I'll bite your head off."

He nodded, motioning to the door. I gratefully smiled, and dropped my backpack onto a chair sitting by the dining room table. I quickly exited using the back door.

As soon as I got out and got out of sight, I began to run. I didn't know where, but I knew why. I just wanted to leave, to get _out of there._

I plunged into a small nearby forest, pushing aside the roots and weeds tangling around my feet and scratching my hands. I watched as I pushed aside a long tendril and it swung back, hitting a mossy tree. I looked up to see only dots of light coming down—the rest was blocked by the thick mass of greenery in the way.

I continued, not slowing my speed even when a tree stump made me stumble clumsily to the ground. I just got up, brushed my hands together ignoring the blood seeping down from the tiny wounds now developed, and kept going.

I felt my phone buzz a couple times—probably dad—but I ignored it. Soon, I came across a decent looking stump, and sat down, crossing my legs. I then buried my face into my hands, not crying, but silent, taking in the nature. I didn't feel like crying.

After a while of just hearing bird chirping and twigs snapping from small animals (I hoped) and I checked my messages. Sure enough, one was from dad asking when I'd be home. I didn't bother to answer, hoping he'd get the idea that I wanted to be alone.

The second was from Emma, just wanting to text for the fun of it. Well, I wasn't in the mood, so I just ignored that also. I put the phone back in my pocket, and just sat there.

I felt the cooler air on my arms, and made a mental note to come back here often. It was a good resting spot on a hot day, and definitely if you wanted to be alone. No one was here to bother you or ask you for anything. It was so quiet and peaceful.

Feeling confident, I switched off my phone, deciding to cut everyone off but me entirely. _There_, I thought, replacing my phone back in my pocket. _Just me entirely now. No one bugging me._

I breathed in the nice pine scent of the forest, and observed the clearing I was in. It seemed that the tree stump was in the middle of a big patch of dirt ground, decorated by pine needles scattered on the ground, and reddish from dying. There was a small creek to my left, weaved in between some trees. It didn't look deep at all, but the soothing trickling sound of it was comforting.

To my right was a patch of tall trees, to my guess over a hundred years old, because it was very thick. The only way to determine it was to saw it in half and count the circles, which couldn't be done because the tree was just too pretty.

I sat there, fingering a thin loose strand of thread on my jacket. A tree off to the right caught my eye, and I looked at it. It was wilted, looking like it was in desperate need of a drink. Smiling, I activated my powers and moved a stream of water to the tree, and watered it thoroughly.

Even though I was enjoying the nature, I began to grow bored of the familiar sights and smells. I got up off the tree stump, brushed off the excess dirt clinging to my denim shorts, and started my hike back.

I followed the trail that I had taken on the way there, making sure to look around to see sightings I saw on the way here, just to make sure I didn't get lost. Soon, I came to a fork in the trail.

I glanced desperately at the path, and studied the one trail that branched into two. _Now where did I come from?_ I ended up asking myself as I looked puzzled at the split trail. I ended up using the dumb "eeine meenie minee moe," ended up landing on the left trail. So I just sighed, shrugging my shoulders, and took the trail.

I hiked up small mounds and through prickly branches that I was certain wasn't there when I arrived here. As the growth grew denser, I realized that it was definite: I hadn't been here. I was lost.

I quickly realized that the problem could be settled: I'd simply walk back and take the other trail, because if the one I was on then wasn't it, the other had to be. So I started walking the other way.

It wasn't long before I hit another fault: the trail that I was currently walking on—the wrong one—branched into two trails behind me that went unnoticed. I guess while I was walking I didn't realize another trail snaked into the one I was walking on. So which one did I come from?

Frustrated, I turned on my phone. I had a few more missed calls from dad, and one text from Kim, who told me to hurry up, we were going out to eat, and dad was waiting on me. She also added that she was starving. Furrowing my brow, I snapped the phone shut. Damn her. I could make it out of here without any help. I'd show her.

I randomly chose a path (remembering that the method I used before failed) and walked through it. I saw some familiar sights, and smiled to myself. _See? I don't need anyone's help_, I thought smugly as I continued. I pushed through weeds and tangles of vines, the journey to the end becoming endless and I was becoming restless. Soon, I ran.

I pushed through the undergrowth, sick and tired of this. I laid a hand on a moss-covered tree as I sprinted by, and brushed off the excess dirt given off from it. I looked up and saw sunlight dancing through the leaves, mocking me that they were on the outside and I was trapped in.

_Slam!_ I hit the ground with a sickening thud as I fell hard. I laid there, fallen, and the tears began to fall as well. I wiped under my eyes, and then looked at my hands. In embarrassment, I realized they were caked with mud. I must have left a streak of mud on my cheek. I wiped it with the back of my hand, and sure enough, there was dirt on it that was under my eye.

I twitched a little, and my ankle burned with pain. I realized it could be sprained, maybe broken. I twisted it badly. But what had I fallen on? Probably an uprooted root, waiting for someone as clumsy as me to trip on it. Slowly, I turned over on my back, and my ankle hurt like hell. I then stared at the thing that tripped me.

No. Oh my God, no no no no. No, this _cannot_ be happening. I'm dreaming. That trip made me fall unconscious. Or I'm dead. Sure, it was a little strange, dying from a fall, but whatever. Anything to explain this. This couldn't be happening.

Lying on my back, and propping myself up on my elbows, I leaned my head back to the heavens. "Help!" I cried desperately, tears running down my face. "Oh my God, please help!" I sobbed, and eventually looked back at the thing that tripped me. I nearly had another heart attack just looking at it.

Then I realized I had my phone. As strongly as I could, I kicked myself away from it and pulled my phone out of my pocket. My ankle was twisted at a weird angle, and it was going numb. It scared me more than it probably would have if it hurt.

I dialed the first thing that popped into my mind, and held the phone impatiently to my ear. As soon as the person picked up, I wiped more tears away and said, sniffling, "Hello, yes. I need two things. One, I need an ambulance. I was hiking in the woods, and fell over...something. I twisted my ankle pretty badly."

"Is there anything you can tell us to give us a more specific location as to where you are in the woods?" the voice asked.

"I think I'm on the edge of the woods. It's near my house, in the back." I quickly gave her my address.

"We can search the woods for you. Just yell every once and a while and they will find you," the woman said.

"Ok," I said. "Second. I need an ambulance and a police car, though the ambulance won't help much. I just need it."

"We are already sending an ambulance for you," informed the impatient lady.

"I know, I know. That one isn't for me." I glanced at the thing I tripped on, and started crying a bit, as I quickly explained what I needed it for.

_-Emma POV-_

The fresh breeze whipped through my hair as I walked down to Cleo's house with Rikki. We were both incredibly bored, so we both decided to walk up to Cleo's house, even though recently we were just swimming with her.

"Oh my God," Rikki said, tapping me so I'd look up. "There are ambulances and policemen around Cleo's house."

I looked up, astonished, and saw that this wasn't one of Rikki's jokes—she was serious. Two ambulances and a cop car surrounded the Sertori household.

Don stood on the front stoop, talking to one of the policemen. He was holding Kim close to him, who looked pretty shaken up, holding on to Don for her dear life.

We approached Don, and he looked over at us. He smiled wearily, and ran a hand through his hair. "Girls, hello. Don't mind all this, something has just happened."

"Where's Cleo?" I asked in a stern voice.

"Ambulance," Don said darkly, and my heart stopped. What was wrong with Cleo?

Rikki and I raced over to the ambulance and found Cleo sitting in the back of one of the ambulances. She was talking to one of the paramedics as they were looking over her ankle. An Ace Bandage was wrapped around her ankle for some reason.

"Cleo," Rikki said as we ran up to her. She looked up at us with cold, gray eyes, and her tears fell.

"Oh, Cleo, what happened?" I said, and as I tried to get closer, the paramedics kept blocking the way. I just resulted in keeping my distance.

"Will you guys come to the hospital with me?" Cleo asked softly, tucking a piece of her hair behind her ear shyly.

"Of course. But what is this all about?" Rikki said, crossing her arms.

Cleo opened her mouth, closed it, and then opened it again. She was given the will to speak, and said, "I...was upset, so I hiked. In the forest." She gestured to the back of her house, and continued. "I tripped, and twisted my ankle. I...saw what I tripped over, and I called the ambulance."

"Did you trip over a root or something?" Rikki asked.

"Worse," she said, and her eyes closed dramatically. "I tripped over...Bella."

OoOoO

"The doctor said that I broke my ankle, and I have to walk around with a cast for a few weeks." Cleo shifted uncomfortably in the hospital bed, and then said, "Did you call Lewis?"

"He's on his way," I said, glancing at my phone. "Do you think they...put Bella in a room?"

"What's the point?" Rikki said. "She's dead."

The words sent a chill down my spine, and I closed my eyes, taking in a sharp, frozen breath. I slowly opened up my long lashed eyes, and saw Cleo uncomfortably picking at the white hospital sheets, her head hung low and her eyes locked down. I could see she was trying to hide the tears from us, but I still saw them.

I hit Rikki in the arm, and she rubbed her sore arm, mouthing to me, "What?" I gestured to Cleo with a stern look on my face and mouthed back, "Fix that!"

She sighed, and then openly said, "Well, I mean, maybe. But there's still hope, right?" Rikki smiled, showing obvious fake enthusiasm and hope.

Cleo looked up, and we both got a good long glimpse of her reddened eyes. "Please. She's been in the forest for a whole year now. You're right. She's...dead." Cleo leaned back in her bed, and closed her saddened eyes. "I'm going to take a nap," she said, eyes still closed.

"We'll be here," I said, and took a seat in the uncomfortably firm plush chair sitting in a corner, and Rikki took the other. We watched as Cleo fell asleep, her breathing becoming slowed. When she was asleep, Rikki and I silently talked.

_-Rikki POV-_

"What happened to Bella?" Emma whispered asked to me as I fiddled with my fingers.

I shrugged. "I honestly have no idea. They didn't tell me anything."

"Me either," Emma said, crossing her arms. "I guess we will find out later."

"Later?" I asked, turning to look at her square in the eye. "I can't wait another second, and you want me to wait until _later_?"

At that moment, the door flung open and Lewis came in, a worried expression on his face. His eyes laid on Cleo, asleep in the bed, and he said, "Oh, no, I'm too late! Cleo's already dead!" Lewis walked over to Cleo's side and took her hand. "Breath, Cleo. Can you hear me?"

"Lewis," Emma said, irritated. "Leave her alone. She sprained her ankle; she didn't fall off a cliff. She's sleeping, leave her be."

"Oh, good," Lewis said, getting up and wiping his forehead with the back of his hand. "Phew. I thought at first she was dead. Thanks for telling me otherwise."

I rolled my eyes, and turned to Emma. "I would've just slapped him."

"You wouldn't have," Lewis said with mocking eyes, smiling like a cat.

I raised my eyebrows at his doubt. "You want to bet?" I picked up my hand in a readied position.

He held up his hands in defeat. "Okay, okay, I believe you." Lewis sat down on a chair besides me and started reading a magazine that was laid on a shelf next to Cleo's bed.

I got up, rubbing my hands together. "Well, I'm starving. I barley had anything for lunch, because they were serving sloppy joes. Do you know how disgusting the school's sloppy joes are?"

Emma nodded. "Very. But you go ahead, I'm fine." Lewis nodded in agreement.

I shrugged. "Suit yourself," I said, and walked out of the hospital room.

While going down the white hall and dodging the hurrying workers, I dug around in my pocket for some cash. I eventually came up with twenty-one dollars and eighty two cents, including the nickel I found on the floor.

I rounded the corner and shuffled my way to the elevator. I pressed the down button with my pointer finger, and waited as the elevator took its sweet time coming to get me.  
When the elevator arrived, I stepped in to find a woman waiting in there. I jammed my thumb into the floor I wanted to go to, and off it went.

The woman had black hair that was messy on her shoulders, and was clutching a small purse. She seemed pretty friendly, because she turned to me and said, "Hola," with a smile.

I put on a weary smile. I barley knew Spanish, only getting by with a C minus, but at least I knew what "hola" meant. Acknowledging her greeting, I said, "Hola."

"Qué hora es?" she asked.

"Uh," I stuttered, trying to get my mind thinking. What was she asking? Hora...time! That was right, she was asking for the time!

I pushed up my sleeve and read the time in Spanish to her, hoping I didn't trip up. "Son las cautro y diez." I hoped I told her correctly that it was 4:10.

She smiled, nodding in approval. "Gracias."

I smiled back; glad I could help, but even gladder that I knew enough Spanish to just pass by. "De nada."

The creaky elevator dinged, and the door opened. I took a quick glance at it, and saw that it wasn't my floor, so it must have been the lady's. She gave me a nod, and stepped off.

After the doors closed, they descended a few floors, and finally got to my designated floor. I stepped off, and took in the hushed buzz of people around me, and directed myself to the cafeteria with the signs all around me.

I arrived at the cafeteria and started to pick out things I wanted to buy. I eventually settled on a burrito with a bag of chips and a freshly cold water bottle.

Once I had paid (without using all of my money) I sat down and began to eat the burrito. I savored the great burst of flavor in my mouth, and generously chewed. After and eventful day like today, I was glad to have rewarded myself with this.

I was done with my chips and three quarters of the way done with my burrito when I began to feel full. I reached over to grab my water bottle to take a swig of water to quench my thirst, but ended up knocking my water bottle all over my lap instead.

"Great," I muttered, getting up as quick as I could. I looked around for someplace, and found a bathroom on the right side of the cafeteria. I ran full speed towards it, and pushed myself inside. I saw that it was a one person bathroom, and smiled to myself. Perfect.

Not long after, I fell to the floor on my stomach. I turned myself over and surveyed my tail with an annoyed expression on my face. I flipped myself over and was about to speed dry myself, but then realized I couldn't. I remembered before, when Emma was a mermaid in the bathroom and the vapor collected on the ceiling, then rained down on us. I guess I learned from that, but how could I dry my tail now?

I just sighed, and waited on the floor for my tail to dry. After about ten minutes, when I was getting exasperated and believed that someone had probably stolen my burrito by now, I heard a knock on the door.

"Is anyone in there?" I heard. I propped myself up on my elbows, and was about to answer that it was occupied, but the door creaked open and revealed a figure standing in the doorway.

I closed my eyes in defeat. Great, someone had seen me. I heard the door swing close, and opened my one eye. I couldn't believe who was standing there.

She was wearing a purple shirt and jeans; a plain outfit. She had on gold flip-flips and her hair was tousled on her shoulders.

"Charlotte?" I said. "What are you doing here?"

"Sorry Rikki," Charlotte mumbled, but she couldn't take her eyes off my tail. "I'll uh, leave now." She turned to go.

I shut my eyes tightly, and then through my gritted teeth, I said, "_Wait._"

She turned around, a weird expression planted on her face. "Uh...yeah?"

"Could you, um...help me?" I asked, motioning to my tail, a hopeful expression on my face.

She sighed, smiling as if she broke me down. She kneeled down besides me and pulled out a small, green and dry washcloth.

I looked at her curiously. She looked at the washcloth and laughed. "Yeah, I know, pretty random and convenient." She began rubbing the washcloth on my tail to dry me, and I winced at the weird contact—something I had never experienced before. "I started carrying this around when I was a mermaid just in case I got wet. It kind of backfired when I realized it wouldn't help—it disappeared with my clothes." Charlotte laughed and tucked a piece of her red hair behind her ear. "Ever since I lost my powers, I was just so used to carrying it around that I didn't bother to stop, even though I knew I wouldn't need it." She sighed. "That thought hurt. But I guess I need it now."

I nodded throughout her speech, half listening, and half just keeping an eye on her to see if she did anything funny to my tail. But she didn't do much but dry me—after a while, my tail disappeared in a flurry of bubbles and my legs appeared.

"Done," Charlotte said, nodding in approval. She stood up, and extended her hand out to me to help me up. I eyed it with suspicion. What if she purposely got her hand wet when drying my tail, and when I grab her hand, I grow a tail all over again? Then she'd just run off, laughing and leaving me stranded. I didn't take her hand, not taking any chances.

Charlotte said, pulling back her hand. "Rikki, I'm going to tell you exactly what I told the girls. I don't want you to think of me as a threat, just a friend." I looked at her, making a, "You've got to be kidding me," face, and she sighed once more. "Okay, not a friend, but someone who you can rely on. Like now. If you ever need help, just look me up. Please."

I pursed my lips, and said, "Maybe, Charlotte. We'll see." I then took her newly outstretched hand and hoisted myself up. We exited the bathroom to find a line of angry people waiting for us. We apologized as we raced by. I eyed my food on my table—it was still there—and just left it. It didn't matter.

"So..." I said, making small talk with Charlotte, seeing that she was following me. "Why are you here?"

"My grandpa had a heart attack," Charlotte said sadly.

"I'm sorry...wait, your _grandpa_?" I said in awe.

"Yeah," Charlotte said. "Why?"

"Gracie's husband?" I asked, rubbing my hands together to create heat to my numb and cold hands.

"Yeah," Charlotte said. "She married a guy named Ted. I know she didn't love Ted as much as Max, but she did love Ted." Charlotte nodded, like trying to convince herself instead of me. She shook her head. "Why are _you_ here?"

"Cleo sprained her ankle. Nothing major, but she wanted us to be here."

"Us?" Charlotte asked.

"Emma too," I informed her. I stopped by the elevator. "Well, this is my stop. I'd better go."

"Right," Charlotte said. She held up her hand in a half wave, and then started to walk away.

"Wait," I called down to her, and she spun around, eyebrows arched in curiosity. "Um, thanks for what you did. You really saved me there."

Charlotte smiled, and then replied, "Any time." With that, she turned and walked away.

When I arrived at Cleo's room, she had a walking cast wrapped around her foot and was being helped out of bed. Lewis and Don shared a side of the room, and Emma was on the other side, watching, amused, as Cleo began to wobble around, trying her walking cast.

"Hey Rikki," Cleo said, spotting me and giving a wave. She lost concentration and balance and tripped forward, catching herself mid-air. "Whoops."

I joined Emma as Cleo teetered around, finally getting the hang of lugging around a cast on her leg. She placed herself in front of Emma and I, and slumped, sighing. "This sucks."

"There is one highlight," I said, earning a few curious glances.

"What?" Cleo said, joyous to hear some good news about this.

"You get excused from gym," I said, smiling, and she laughed.

"Cleo, they said we could check out now," Don informed us, and Cleo nodded. We stayed by Cleo as she directed herself through the door, determined not to have any help. Whenever we'd ask, she say, "No, I have it, it's easy."

Once Don checked out, we led Cleo to the elevator (earning another bark of request from Cleo to stop helping her) and rode it down to the first floor. When we got there, we began our journey to the car.

I leaned over and whispered in Emma's ear, "Charlotte is here."

"Charlotte?" murmured Emma, looking surprised. "Why? What's wrong with her?"

"Nothing," I said. "It's Gracie's husband."

"Gracie married?" Emma asked in shock, and I nodded with a sorrowed look on my face.

"What are you guys talking about?" I heard, and I turned to see Cleo looking back at us, and starting to join us. I began to explain that Charlotte was here at the hospital to Cleo too.

We were led to the Sertori's house, where Don would give Emma and me a lift home. We hopped into the car, and waited for Don to get in and start the car.

We waited, but he never followed us into the car. I opened the door and leaped out to see what was keeping him, and saw him talking to an official looking man talking to him. When I hopped out, he turned to me and looked at me with his beady, watery eyes. With his finger, he motioned towards me.

I approached the two uncertainly. "Yes?" I asked politely.

"Can you get your two friends? Emma and Cleo?" he asked, his hand in his pocket.

"Su—sure," I said unsteadily. I backed up and called Cleo and Emma to join me.

Once we were all huddled around the man, he spoke in a loud voice, which I thought was odd for such a short fellow. "I would just like to announce to Isabel's friends that we will be investigating this case."

"Right," I said. "To see what happened when she was in the forest? Did she just get choked by a vine or something?" When I saw the girl's quick and irritated glances, I said, "Hey, you never know."

"No," he said shortly. "We are now putting this in our files as a _murder_ investigation."

"Murder?" Cleo said, her broken foot wobbling a bit. We all glanced at each other, and looked away quickly. But it didn't matter how fast we looked away, for I saw their eyes: the eyes that held secrets and lies yet to be uncovered, and sure enough, they saw it in my eyes too.

A/N: I need to know if you guys liked it! Please review! Thanks a bunch for the support, I love writing this story. Ciao!


	6. Chapter 4: Secrets and Lies

A/N: Thanks for the reviews for the last chapter, you guys rock!

_The true mystery of the world is the visible, not the invisible_

_-Oscar Wilde_

**Chapter Four: Secrets and Lies**

_**-Emma POV-**_

"I'm not going." My words were pale and lifeless, but yet had so much meaning impacted into them that it almost didn't make sense.

"What do you mean? Mr. And Mrs. Hartley invited us _all_ to Bella's...erm...funeral." Rikki spat out the last word uncomfortably.

"If they invited me, they obviously don't know the whole story of what happened that night," I replied, falling back onto my comfy bed to stare at the ceiling aimlessly.

"Of course they don't. _We_ don't," Rikki countered, shooting her answer back at me like a snake striking.

I sighed. "I know, I know, it's just that I wouldn't be comfortable there. It's my fault Bella's gone, and I'm sure Bella would want her funeral to be without me." I played with a string poking out of my comforter, wrapping it around my finger until the tip turned purple.

"Don't be silly. Please come Emma, it just wouldn't be the same without you. I bet there'll be tons of her parent's friends at the funeral that she didn't even know!" Rikki said.

I sat up; releasing the string and having my finger turn slowly back to its original color. "Yeah, but she _knew_ me. She _hated_ me for the matter. I just don't think it would be right."

"Please," Rikki said. "Come _on_. Come for Cleo and me, not for Bella."

"But it's _her_ funeral," I pointed out.

"Yeah, but you're coming for _us_," she countered.

Angrily, I spat, "Rikki, if you want me to come to a funeral for you, why don't I just come to yours?" I then hung up. Didn't she realize that Bella was not my friend, so she probably would want nothing to do with me?

After a minute of calming down, I suddenly realized what I had said and how bad it sounded. It sounded more like a death threat to me. I picked up my phone and dialed Rikki's number.

_**-Rikki POV-**_

_Emma calling,_ my caller ID read. I just let my phone sit there, vibrating, until I got so fed up I pressed "Ignore." I hoped during the year Emma and I weren't friends she didn't forget my personality. No one threatened Rikki Chadwick and got away with it.

I went over to my calendar and circled in red Sharpie the following Monday (today was Friday) and then the Wednesday of that week. I then picked up a black Sharpie and wrote, "Dress rehearsals." I smiled boldly.

I then picked up all my Sharpies—excluding the black one, only the colorful ones—and decorated Friday. I circled the date with purple stars, put big, bold arrows pointing to the date in neon Sharpie and put a few drawn confetti streamers around it. In the very middle, I wrote "Final play!" and highlighted it. I grinned and slapped down my Sharpies. The big day would be especially fun because Zane would dread every second of it. But it would be even greater because everyone would be there, and I would shine! Speaking of, I needed to remember to invite Cleo and maybe Emma.

A smile crept on my face as I remembered one more person I definitely needed to invite. I went across the hall and found my dad working at a desk.

"Hey, dad?" I said nonchalantly. "There's something I need to ask you."

He put down his pen and swiveled his chair around to face me. "Sure sweetheart, what is it?"

I took a deep breath, and said, "Well on Friday, we're having this play, you know how I was picked for the lead? Well, I was wondering...maybe...if you'd like to come?" I smiled sweetly.

He ran his fingers through his short hair and sighed. "I don't know sweetheart, I have a lot of paperwork that needs to be taken care of, and..."

"I get it," I rudely interrupted. I bit my lip, and said, "But if you'd like to come..." I lifted up his hand and slid under it a paper ticket—one of the four I get free for being in the play. "...You can always come." I smiled.

"We'll see," is all he said, turning back to his paperwork. But I saw him grip the ticket tighter and smile a little bit.

I skipped over to a wooden chair happily and slung my backpack over my shoulder, just about ready to head to school. I waved my dad off, telling him bye, and skidded out the door.

Along the way, I picked up Cleo, who thumped loudly out the door and followed me to school. We also acquired Emma into our walking group, of who I ignored half of the way there until the thumping of Cleo's cast and the birds chirping mixed in with the silence of the morning got a little irritatingly uncomfortable, and she begged for my forgiveness, and chimed in that what she said on the phone was not meant the way it was said.

"Well," I said slowly, "I was being kind of irritating. It's your choice to go to Bella's funeral. I forgive you. Do you forgive me?" I asked.

She smiled, flipping her blonde hair behind her shoulder with a single toss. "What's there to forgive?"

"On that happy note," I said, and spun around so that I was walking backwards, facing Emma and Cleo, I said, "Here." I handed each of the girls a paper ticket.

"The play?" Emma said, looking up and smiling. I nodded.

"It wouldn't be the same without you guys there. If you're busy, though, I totally understand. It's on Friday," I said.

"Of course we'd like to come," Cleo said, sticking the ticket in her pocket. "How'd you get the tickets? Don't they cost money to fund for the school?"

"Being in the play, I get four free tickets," I explained. I clasped my hands together and did a cheering motion.

"Where are the other two going?" Emma asked.

"I gave one to my dad, and I guess I'm going to slip the other to Lewis," I said. "If he'd like to come."

"Speaking of," Cleo said, and out popped Lewis from his house, and ran down to meet us. He waved to Emma and me, and kissed Cleo.

I groaned, rolling my eyes, but handed him a ticket anyway. He looked at it peculiarly. "What's this?" he asked.

"A ticket to the play. I'm in it, and so is Zane. If you don't feel like watching me, you can laugh at Zane. That's what I'm going to do backstage," I said, smiling, and led the group all the way to school.

Once we set foot on school grounds, our small group was devoured by people wanting to know what happened to Cleo's foot and waving around Sharpies, trying to sign the cast. Before we split off into individuals to go to our first period classes, Cleo was looking worn out and her cast held a slew of messy signatures and cute rhymes wishing her well.

I headed to my class—Chemistry—and bumped into somebody I'd never in a million years expect to see.

"Hey Rikki," he said with a smile, obviously overwhelmed with happiness to see me. "What's up?"

"Will," I said breathlessly, trying to register this into my head. Will was here. Well, of course. He went to this school, but I hadn't seen him around these parts for the short month that school had been in session from summer. "You go here now?"

"I never stopped," Will confessed. "It's just that I took some time off to dive more—I've started more and more diving, I just can't seem to get away from it—and to get over the whole...Bella thing. But I finally thought to myself, 'Will, not going to school and poorly home schooling yourself won't help. Nothing is going to change with Bella, so I decided to accept that." He shrugged and smiled. "But I'm back."

"Great," I said with a forced smile. It wasn't that I wasn't happy to see Will, it was just he reminded me too much of Bella, and plus, he was the one that led to some heat between Zane and me when we were broken up. But, that was part of the reason we got back together in the summer—because we realized Zane's jealousy was because we loathed and missed each other dearly. It was movie romance sappy, but hey, you can't mess with fate.

"So," he started. "What's been going on with you guys lately?" He took off his backpack and slung it over the opposite shoulder.

"What do you mean?" I asked, confused. I began to register what he said, and then was immediately embarrassed. What an easy question! I guess I was just too muddled in my own thoughts to think about Will's question.

"Like, any news, mermaid or otherwise." He stood pretty firm to the spot, waiting for an answer.

"Right," I said. "Nothing much, just...coping with...recent developments." I laughed it off like it was nothing and it was the biggest joke ever.

"Okay," Will drawled slowly. "So, do you want to swing by the boathouse after school maybe? It'll give us time to catch up." He must have noticed my panicked expression, and added quickly, "That is, if you want to."

"No, no, I'd love to," I assured, "I just don't think it would be a good idea. You know," I lowered my voice to a whisper, "With Zane."

He raised his eyebrows. "Still as overprotective as ever?"

"Yes," I lied slowly. Truth be told, Zane didn't give a crap to what I did. Of course, it would probably give him a shock to learn that Will was back and invited me to his boatshed, but trust me and know that I was loyal to our relationship. We have been broken up two times—it was turning out to be one of those on again off again things—and I didn't want to shoot for a third, so I just wanted to be extra careful.

Will looked sad, and turned to go, but I quickly poked in, "But I think Cleo is free!" I almost slapped my hand across my mouth and hit myself in the head with my free hand. Why did I just say that? I panicked!

He smiled again, and said, "Hey, cool. I'll ask. Thanks Rikki. You're a good friend." It seemed for a split second that he wanted to lean in and kiss me right then, but he turned and walked away in the opposite direction. I shook my head. I was imagining things. He knew that I was dating Zane (right?) and besides, he wasn't over Bella just yet. He needed time.

But what would happen after that time was over, and he was ready to date again? Would he choose me? Oh God, I hoped not...

Just then, my phone beeped. I pulled it out of my pocket, and clicked a button to read the text message I had just received. It said:

_Stealing boyfriends? I should have expected it. You were always the type._

_-B_

Huh? I was the _type_? That was absurd! I swiveled my head around to the chatting teenagers taking up the hallways—all not paying attention to me. Who had sent that text?

Suddenly, my mind flashed back about two years from now, back to a time when things were much difficult, and I had not yet found myself.

_A cool breeze swept through the park as I rubbed my face continuously, trying to wipe away the tears that were running down my face. No doubt that my face was red from crying, and that I looked like a sad teenage girl with nowhere to go just sitting on a park bench in front of a small lake. I shivered, and went to pull my jacket tighter, as I realized I hadn't brought a jacket. I hadn't thought I would need it when I left my house in a hurry—trying to get out of the horror._

_The Gold Coast was fine enough, and for the twenty minutes I had been here it was very pretty and extravagant. I liked it instantly, but then it struck me: the house. It was a trailer. I had never lived in a trailer, only small houses. That was fine to me, just a little unsettling, then I realized another thing: I had to make all new friends. I _was_ in a new part of the country, anyway. And I couldn't do it with the comfort of my mother. But she was long gone, and it upset my father for me to bring it up, so I don't anymore. No more._

"_Hey, are you okay?" I looked up to see a guy about my age towering over me. He was tall and tan and—I'll admit it—pretty good-looking. I watched his sparkling blue eyes and caramel hair as he jumped into the seat next to me._

_I averted my eyes away from his face and to the lake. "No, not really. I just moved here, and I don't know anyone or anything, and to top it all off my dad is pretty broke." I picked up a stray flat stone off to the side and chucked it into the lake—it skipped two times._

"_That sucks," he said apologetically. He looked at the ripples in the lake as to where my stone landed in the water, and then added, "But you know what sucks more?"_

"_What?" I said. There was probably nothing worse than this._

"_Your throw," he said with a smirk. He grabbed a stone and threw it across the water—four skips._

"_Wow," I said, impressed. "How did you do that?" I picked up another rock._

"_Like this." He wrapped his hand around my wrist and my arm, and gently guided me. When I threw the rock, it skipped five times._

"_Better than mine!" he said, and I smiled, glad I could impress him for a change. For once, my spirits lifted for a change. I then realized that his hands were still wrapped around my arms. I would have cleared my throat and motion to let go, but in truth, I was enjoying it._

_I looked at him, and saw that he was looking down on me, waiting. I smiled, a signal, and he leaned into me._

_Our lips touched, and we kissed. If I was going to live in The Gold Coast, at least I could do it with a good-looking boyfriend._

_When we separated, we were both grinning wildly, and I just closed my eyes and leaned back against the bench. I felt ten times better._

"_Josh?" someone called out, and my eyes wretched open. I spun around and saw a girl with black hair pulled into a ponytail and green eyes with pale skin looking horrifically at us, but mostly at "Josh."_

"_How could you?" she whispered._

"_Uh, Christine, I can explain, she came onto me..." he started, but trailed off._

"I _came onto _you_?" I said, totally exasperated and awed._

"_Who are you?" she asked me bluntly, crossing her arms at me._

"_Who are _you_?" I shot back, just as blunt and cocky as her._

"_Who am I? Who am _I_? I'll tell you, bitch, I'm his girlfriend." She looked at me, her eyes narrowed. She turned to Josh, and said, "And I can tell you who _he_ is. A lousy lying bitch is what he is. _And_ now he's girlfriend-less." She turned back to me, and said, "Unless you two are going out now." With a sneer, she turned away._

"I_ came onto _you_?" I said, and scoffed. "Try the other way around."_

"_Please, don't try to weasel your way out of it. Because of you, I got dumped." He sent a dirty look my way, and left me sitting alone._

_I wrapped my arms around my knees, now more depressed than ever. I had barley been in The Gold Coast for half an hour, and I had two enemies: a girl who now just hated me to the core and a sly backstabber that blames people for things they don't do. And to think, I kissed him! Before even learning his name! What was wrong with me?_

I shivered at the thought. That was a time when things were much more complicated, I did things I regret, and I hadn't met Cleo and Emma yet. But those times were over.

_**-Emma POV-**_

"I thought you were done avoiding me," Jenna said, exasperated.

"I am," I promised, sweeping my glance up and down the hallway to see anybody. There was just the normal amount of people talking to their friends before we (the seniors) went to lunch.

"Yeah but..." she trailed off, and I continued searching down the hallways, in search of one of the girls to rescue me from Jenna. "Emma?" she urged, but I continued not listening to her.

"Emma, talk to my face!" she boomed, and grabbed my arm. She spun me around to face her, and I saw rage written all over her face.

"Hey!" I said, because when she spun me around, it hurt. I mean, it _really_ hurt. Wait a second...

I looked down at my arm, and saw that the part where she grabbed me was a bright and red. I touched it, only to jerk my hand back in agony. It burned! The burning was spreading up my arm, suffocating any other feeling other than the fire.

"Ow!" I said, and turned to look at her. "It burns! What did you do?" Man, it hurt badly...

Jenna looked guiltily at the palms of her hands, which were now the same shade of crimson as my arm. I nestled my arm, carefully not trying to touch it, and watched as the red began to fade quickly, the fire getting put out.

I looked up at her, and saw that she was staring at the mark on my arm. Her palms were the same color again, and as I checked, my skin was too.

I looked up at her in shock, and she had an, "I'm hiding something," look to her face. I started to back away from her, and she reached out to grab my arm and stop me. But I just backed away faster, eventually breaking into a run facing the right way, as she called out behind me, "Wait! I can explain!"

No. She couldn't explain. She obviously had a secret going on, something to do with magic. Don't ask me how I know, I just...can sense it.

I ran out to the school field, which was decorated with tables and chairs inviting students to sit down. I sat by myself, and students looked at my grief stricken face and could only assume that I was friendless and something bad just happened. They looked at me pitifully and walked on.

Something was up with Jenna. I sensed it even before I got that mysterious message from B. But why? What had I sensed?

It all suddenly came to me. Once in a while there would be someone off the street—a stranger, really—that I felt a pull towards. I sensed something hidden deep within them. I felt it towards Cleo and Rikki, but I was so used to it I didn't give it a second thought. Could I sense if someone had magic, like Cleo, Rikki and I?

If so, Jenna definitely was magical in some sort of way. She wasn't a mermaid—we'd narrowed it down _that_ much—so what would she be?

I didn't know, but it excited me that I could _sense_ magic in someone. I scanned the yard to see if any of the students here gave me the same pang of sense, but it came up as negative.

"Day dreamer much?" Cleo said as she came over and sat down next to me. I blushed; embarrassed that she'd caught me staring off into space. "What's up?" she asked.

"Just thinking," I said, and cupped my chin in my hands, resuming my state. Cleo watched me, shrugging. I looked up at her, and said, "Can someone sense that someone else is magical? Like you and me?"

"What?" Cleo said, confused. I repeated my question a bit slower. She thought for a second, then answered, "Well, mermaids exist. There's a good chance that some other magical creature exists. So why not a person who can sense who they are? Why do you ask?"

"Because I always get this vibe towards Rikki and you," I explained. "And some other random people that I think are magical. And Jenna, too. I think she's magical. A while before I came out here, she burned me."

"How?" Cleo asked, shocked.

"With the palm of her hand," I said, and circled my palm with my pointer finger. "She burned it right here." I then circled a part of my upper arm.

"There are no burn marks," Cleo observed in a deep trance.

"I know. That's what confuses me," I said.

I heard a plop next to me, and saw Rikki sitting down at the picnic table, setting down her bag. "Hey Rikki," I said, smiling.

"Hey," she said, nodding to me. Then she turned to Cleo. "Cleo, don't kill me, but Will is going to ask you anytime today that—"

She was cut rudely off by Will approaching us. "Hey girls. Emma, Cleo, Rikki," he said, acknowledging all of us. I gave him a little wave, Rikki a weary smile, and Cleo a nod.

"So, Cleo," Will started. "Rikki mentioned to me that you were free today. Do you want to swing by the boathouse after school and catch up a bit?"

"Uh," Cleo said, and looked at Rikki. Rikki looked guilty, lowering her eyes to the picnic table. "Well, um, you see..." Cleo was unable to say no, so she said, "I'd love to."

"Great," Will boasted, all smiles. He turned to me. "And you're invited too, Emma."

"Oh, I really have some studying to do for the math test," I explained. "I really need to bring my grades up."

"Really? Emma Gilbert needs to bring her grades up?" Will said, raising his eyebrows like he suspected me of lying.

"Yeah. My grades have dropped," I said. "If you saw my report card now, you'd scream."

Will laughed. "Okay. Have fun with that. Bye guys. See you after school, Cleo," Will said. He turned and left.

"Rikki!" Cleo said. "Why'd you tell him I was free?"

"I thought you'd enjoy some catching up with Will," Rikki said, shrugging. "Anyway, I thought maybe you two could do some smooching in the privacy of the boatshed. Will's single now," Rikki said jokingly with a wink.

"Rikki!" Cleo scolded.

Rikki held up her arms in defense. "Okay, in truth, I panicked."

"Well," Cleo said with a sigh, "I guess I'm going to have to go. Who knows? Maybe I'll like it and really get caught up," Cleo said with a smile, looking on the bright side.

With that, she walked away, her walking cast thumping every step. I looked at Rikki, and shrugged, leaving her behind at the table.

_**-Cleo POV-**_

I arrived at Will's boatshed on time by swimming. I would have been late because I had a few nagging teachers wanted to suck up all my free time after school, telling me off about my latest test scores, but I escaped the diabolical teachers right on time.

I was currently placed under Will's dock that held his boatshed, being as still and quiet as possible. I listened to the waves lapping, and tried to concentrate on the rustle inside Will's place. I wanted to make sure Sophie or someone wasn't in there, or else they'd catch me.

Once I was sure no one but Will was in there, I saw to the edge and lifted up my arm to the dock. I grabbed the dock with my arms, trying to use friction to help me up. I mentally thanked my gym teacher for pushing me to do those extra chin-ups, and pulled myself onto the deck flawlessly. I didn't know how in the world I was supposed to dry off, so I yelled to the boatshed, "Psst! Will! Will Benjamin! A little help?"

He eventually emerged out, and quickly helped me dry. He pulled me up, and we ventured into his boatshed.

I fell in steady footing behind him, admiring his ever-growing collection of shells and information hanging around in various places around the room. I carefully picked up a shiny white shell that was sitting on the table on display and examined it with interest.

"Like it?" Will asked, and I looked up to face him. I gave him a tight smile and nodded it affirmative.

"Found it when I was diving. Pretty exotic, eh?" he said, and picked up another one of his shells sitting on the counter. "This one is really common, and was just washed up on the shore, but I liked it so much that I kept it."

"So," I said, setting down the shell. "What's been going on?"

"Boring things," Will said. "No school is boring, no matter how much one hates it. I eventually came back to school. Nothing will change what happened, so I decided to embrace it." He cleared his throat as if to clear himself of the touchy subject, then said, "Water?"

"What?" I said, confused.

He turned around and rustled through his mini-fridge that only took up a corner of space, and emerged with two water bottles. He raised his eyebrows in question.

"Sure," I said, gratefully accepting the refreshing drink after a long day at school. Once he passed it to me, I observed it to make sure there were no leaks, and then took it in my hand. I untwisted the cap, breaking the seals, about to drink, when I realized what I was doing and eyed it suspiciously.

"Way ahead of you," Will said with a laugh, and passed me a straw. I thanked him, then dipped it into the water and drank.

Will watched me, and then soon returned to his own drink. Once we both had a good long slurp, he looked me in the eye and asked how things were going with me.

"Fine, fine," I replied. "The same old same old really." I knew he could tell I was lying, but I just took another sip of the water and looked at him to comment.

"Okay," he said. "How have the girls and you been developing?"

"Bad," I said, sighing. "We grew apart, now we're back together, which is good, I really missed them. But we still can't get over the thing with Bella." I gazed at my cast, now decorated with signatures, and cringed, remembering what happened yesterday.

"I haven't gotten over it either," admitted Will. "And to top it off, Bella and I had a fight that day. Not a big blowout, but still enough to make us both upset."

"You guys had a fight?" I said, shocked, but then racked my brain of that night, and uncovered some distant memory of her confessing to us of a fight. "Oh, right."

"She told you?" he asked in wonderment.

"Yeah, she said you guys had a fight, but she didn't mention what it was about." I shrugged in an it's-no-big-deal way.

"Do you want to know what it was about?" Will asked.

I shrugged, not wanting to seem like I was prying, but still really interested. "Sure, but if you don't want me to know, I can totally understand."

"Don't worry. I don't mind," insisted Will. He started, "Well, Bella was visiting the boatshed for lunch. After we ate, Bella was roaming around looking at my collection of shells while I watched her. She came across a cool looking one," Will said, then reached over and picked up a shell. It was pinkish white and had a swirl in the middle. He rubbed his thumb over the top of it while continuing, "This one. So, she asked me about it, and I told her I found it while diving deep in the ocean—deeper than I'd ever gone before. Somehow, with me mentioning it, she got on the topic of how wonderful the ocean looked at great depths, and I absentmindedly agreed.

"She politely told me that I couldn't have gone nearly as deep as her to see the majesty of it all, and that I really didn't know how beautiful it _really_ was. Then I told her that I had dived to some really deep depths before, and then she scoffed and said she'd been farther, being a mermaid and all.

"So it turned into this really stupid argument about who dived deeper," Will said, rolling his eyes. "I wished it hadn't happened."

"Yeah," I said softly. "There are a lot of things that we wish we could go back and fix." I was deep in thought.

"Even though it was a dumb fight over a useless subject, I was still boiling mad at her. Why? I have no idea," he admitted. "But...that day, I kind of felt like..."

"Like what?" I asked.

He lowered his voice like it was a big secret, and said, "I kind of wanted to get rid of her...for good."

_**-Emma POV- **_

I decided to keep the whole "sensing people's powers" a secret, but hey, it wasn't easy to keep your lips shut. I told Rikki to meet me at Rikki's Café to take a walk. I decided I'd tell her then.

"So, what is this you want to tell me?" Rikki asked, sipping her 'to-go' juice she'd made for herself, and one for me.

I stirred my raspberry juice aimlessly. I gripped the Styrofoam cup it came in, and looked at her. "See, so today I was talking to Jenna, and something weird happened."

"Weird how?" Rikki asked, and I opened my mouth to reply, but a hand clamped it shut. Rikki's hand.

She put a finger to her lips and took her hand off my mouth. She pointed to a large boat docked, and I gasped to see who was on board.

I flinched when Rikki grabbed my arm and pulled me behind a smaller boat. She peered out the side and motioned for me to do the same.

"Where do you want these?" asked a middle-aged man aboard the boat, holding a brown cardboard box filled to the brim with beakers, test tubes, microscopes, and other scientific things.

"Right there," said a young blonde also aboard, motioning to the table beside her. "And be careful. Those things are expensive."

I gaped open-mouthed at Rikki, and she shushed me. I mouthed, "Dr. Denman!" to her feverishly, and she just shushed me silently again.

Dr Denman grinned wickedly at her henchman as he set down the box, only a small tinker of glass coming from the inside. "Let's hurry up!" she called. "I want everything set up soon. I have some people I'd like to visit."

"Like that blonde scientist and the three mermaid girls?" her assistant asked, wiping his forehead from sweat. "Aren't they useless now?"

"Ex-mermaids," Denman said rudely, as if it mattered to her. "And yes, in your state of view they are. But I'm not interested in that. I'm not interested in mermaids anymore. I'm a marine biologist, I study the real, not the mythical."

"But you saw them as mermaids. Doesn't that mean they _aren't_ mythical?" he replied.

Denman shrugged. "Larry, I've lost interest all together. I'm done. I just want to pay a friendly hi."

I looked up at Rikki, and gave her a disapproving look. There was no _way_ on earth that's all Denman would do to us in her clutches.

"Okay," Larry said nonchalantly, obviously not believing her at all. We didn't either.

Rikki tugged on my sleeve, and motioned for us to leave. I quickly nodded, and turned around to leave, following her. I didn't see the white bucket that was implanted behind me, labeled "_BAIT._" The bucket spilled, its liquid insides spilling in all directions, and I was sent tumbling over it into the ocean.

_Splash_, I hit the water with loud force. I swished my arms around in panic to get to the top. I surfaced, and saw Rikki kneeling down to the dock's edge. I peered down at my legs just in times to see my legs swirl into a tail.

"Larry, what was that?" Denman's voice was heard.

"I don't know, I heard a splash. I'll go check it out," he informed her.

"Run!" I whispered forcefully, and Rikki strained her neck to see all the possible places she could run and hide.

When the footsteps got louder, she muttered, "Damn!" and dived into the ocean with me. Her hand hooked on my tail and dragged me down to below the ocean with her.

I watched as she turned into a mermaid, and we both started away from the dock. I saw a shadowy figure of a man leaning over the ocean, then a muffled, "Hm, probably this bait bucket falling into the ocean."

We swam with all our might; speed swimming once we hit the one-fourth mark to Mako. We surfaced in the moon pool.

"Well, that was unexpected," I muttered miserably, sitting on the ledge that dipped into the moon pool.

"Definitely," Rikki agreed. She rubbed her head in strain. "Before we were so rudely interrupted, you were going to tell me something. What? Something about Jenna? Did you find out what she is?" Rikki asked in excitement.

"See, what happened was..." I started to say, before I was interrupted _again_ but this time by me.

My eyes shut closed, and something washed over me. Without my warning, realization started to hit me. It was like taking a roller coaster ride through my brain, but only through the parts that Jenna was the memory in. It took me through everything, as I concentrated hard, realizing this was part of my newfound power. At the end, I could finally add up 2 and 2, and something inside me clicked.

"Of course," I said, breathing out and smiling. I opened my eyes.

"What? What just happened?" Rikki asked curiously, peering at me like I was a nutcase.

"Part of what I was going to tell you." I smiled. "Rikki, Jenna's a _witch_."

**A/N: Thanks for reading, I appreciate it! Please review, I read them all! Ciao!**


	7. Chapter 5: Mermaids, Witches, Murdere

A/N: Hey guys, sorry for the cliffhanger last chapter, but like always, thanks so much for the reviews! Enjoy this chapter. Oh, and I'm on summer break! If you're on it now, when'd you get out? Answer in the reviews :)

I was going to update on Sunday, but I experienced a power outage, right when I was going to upload. Funny, right? Ha ha, NOT. Lol, jk I don't mind a power outage, especially when mine only lasted an hour...but by that time I was cozy in bed and my comp was turned off. Anyway, enjoy, and Happy 4th of July!

_Secrets are made to be found out with time_

_-Charles Sanford_

**Chapter Five: Mermaids, Witches, Murderers, Oh My!**

_**-Cleo POV-**_

"Are you sure?" I asked Emma, bright and early Saturday morning, sitting in Rikki's Café. I absentmindedly stirred my strawberry kiwi juice, not taking a sip, not that thirsty. "I mean, a mermaid, sure, but a witch?"

"That's the thing," said Emma. She rubbed her temples. "I'm not one hundred percent sure." She closed her eyes and focused for a few seconds. Her eyes snapped back open. "No, no, scratch that, I'm one hundred percent sure."

"Nice powers," Rikki commented sarcastically, scrolling through her phone.

"It sucks," Emma agreed. "It keeps going on and off until it settles on what it wants, and that usually turns out to be true."

"Do you have any idea how you developed the powers?" I asked, rubbing my arm, only paying attention to Emma.

She shrugged. "I guess I've had them all the time, I've just never applied it until now."

"Okay, let's get off that topic," interrupted Rikki. She turned to me. "There's something Emma and I have to tell you."

"We do?" Emma said listlessly, and Rikki shot her a look. "Ohhh," Emma said, finally getting it.

"What?" I asked, curious to the news.

Emma and Rikki looked at each other nervously, and Emma took a deep breath. "Yesterday I was walking with Rikki, and we stumbled across someone we wish wouldn't be here."

"Who?" I asked, genuinely curious, wishing they'd just get on with it.

Emma looked at Rikki, who looked right back. They had a staring contest until Rikki cracked, and said, "We crossed paths with Denman."

"Denman!" I shouted, slamming my fist on the table. My juice quivered from the sudden outburst of strength, and spilled all over my lap.

I quickly jumped up, and said, "Meet me at Mako for further discussion." I then ignored the startled cries of people as I pushed past them out the door and on the dock, then diving headfirst into the water below.

_**-Emma POV-**_

People were staring. I bent my head down low and pretended to be absorbed in my drink to avoid future questioning.

"What _was_ that?" I heard, and I looked up from my juice to see Jenna walking towards the table. She pushed her sunglasses up from her face into her hair. She was wearing a light blue tank top and ripped jean shorts.

I averted from looking or speaking to her, and just looked back down at the table.

"Come on Emma," Jenna urged, sliding into the booth where Cleo was. She avoided touching the sticky spilled juice. "You've got to talk to me sometime."

"No I don't," I said, just as Rikki said, "Right, she does." I looked at her as if she'd lost her mind, and she just smiled.

Rikki continued, "You will now." Rikki scooped up her juice and promptly returned the glass it came into the counter. She walked back to our table. "Mako when you're done," she reminded me, not even trying to keep quiet. Maybe she _wanted_ her to hear. Rikki then exited the café.

Upon seeing Jenna's curious expression, I muttered, "Rikki, I'm going to kill you." I turned to Jenna and gave her my best, "Nothings-going-on-so-why-ask?" smile.

Jenna pointed to the door. "Why did Cleo run out the door and jump into the ocean when her drink spilled on her?"

I sighed, and said, "It's not worth talking about in a public place like this. Let's go somewhere more private." Jenna agreed to my suggestion, and we left, me paying for my drink.

OoOoO

"Perfect," I gushed, sitting down on the hot summer sand in front of the beach (making sure, of course, we were a reasonable distance away from the waters.) I patted the empty lot next to me and Jenna joined.

We were in a deserted part of the beach, but even though we were, I could still hear the laughter of children nearby. I listened to the cawing of a seagull in the sky as I waited for Jenna to say something.

I dug my toes deep into the sand, getting to the moist part where it's cold and rocky. I looked at Jenna, who had slipped on her sunglasses, and was staring into the ocean.

"I know you're a witch," I said, trying to draw the attention away from the sparkling ocean and onto me. With squinting eyes, she took off her sunglasses and looked at me. Curiously, not freaking out.

"What?" she said.

"I know that you're a witch," I repeated. I cupped my one hand like a shovel and scooped up a pile of dry sand, and let it fall to the ground, repeating the process over and over. "I haven't known for long, only since yesterday."

"How'd you figure it out?" Jenna inquired, looking back at the sea, not daring to keep watch of me.

"Later," I promised.

"Who all knows?" she said, her mouth set in a hard line.

"Rikki, Cleo and I," I answered, watching her expression curiously.

She laughed a bit, which surprised me. Three people knew her secret. Didn't that alarm her? "You probably shouldn't have told them. I tend to find people as blabbing."

I shook my head vigorously, not agreeing and not wanting to hear that one bit. "Oh no, they are good at keeping secrets."

She looked back at me. "You reckon?"

I snorted. "Oh yeah, definitely."

"How do you know?" she questioned, squinting one eye at me like to ask if I was lying.

"Because," I said, leaning back onto the sand. "I think they've handled their secret pretty well."

Jenna laughed, shuffling the sand around my toes. I jerked upright to her chuckling. "What's so funny?

She dusted off her hands. "It's just that," she started, "I think my secrets a bit more than who I have a crush on or something."

Now it _my_ turn to laugh. "Our secret is a bit more than that."

"Our?" she inquired, standing up. I stood up along with her, and we began to take a walk down the beach shore.

"Yeah," I struggled. "Our. It's, uh...complicated, you know."

"You know my secret, time to tell me yours," Jenna said, jokingly shoving me.

"Okay," I reluctantly agreed. We had stopped in place on the beach. I gazed out into the ocean, the wind whipping my hair and the ocean spray invading my nostrils. "You know how I've avoided water?"

"Yeah?" she said slowly, not getting it.

"This is why." I smiled up at her to show her I was on board with this, and then began my journey to the waters spread out in front of us.

I let the water wash around my ankles, and ran a bit deeper in. I dived into the water, making sure she didn't see me. I watched as bubbles surrounded my legs, as if someone were boiling the very water around me. They soon cleared up, and I got a good eyeful of my tail.

I looked at the surface, thinking of the waiting Jenna on land. _You don't have to do this_, my mind told me. _Swim away now, and apologize for deserting her later._

_But I _want_ to do this_, I thought, and with my strength, I pushed myself to the top.

I lay down on the shore, just where the waves and sand meet. It felt rocky and uncomfortably in the hot sun, but all I did was pay attention to Jenna's reaction.

She was completely flabbergasted, her eyes bulging out of my head. I smiled at her wearily, and looked back at my tail. The scales shimmered in the sunlight. I turned back to Jenna, and saw that she was heading in my direction.

When she got to me, she was ankle deep in water. She bent down and stroked my tail, recoiling when she touched it.

"What do you think?" I asked, smiling.

She said nothing, not smiling, and looked up out to the sea, then to me. She stood back up, straightening herself up, and began to walk farther into the ocean.

"Jenna?" I asked, and watched as she dived into the waves, just as I did. "Oh great," I muttered when she didn't surface. Had I scared her that much?

I swam deeper into the water, and caught sight of Jenna swimming underwater. She was using her arm and leg muscles to power herself, and pushed herself along the water, slicing through the waves.

She looked back at me, blinked, and smiled. I smiled back. She made a motion for me to follow her, but I shook my head, and pointed to the surface. She nodded.

When we broke the water level, I said, "What are we doing?"

"I just want to check out where this all happened. It was there, right?" Jenna said, pointing to Mako Island. Her wet hair clung messily to her forehead.

"Right," I said hastily. "How did you...?"

"Don't ask me how I know," Jenna interrupted. "Just follow me, okay?"

"We're swimming there?" I asked.

She turned around to face the island, away from me. She looked back at me, and smiled. "What, can you not keep up with me?"

"No," I said quickly. "I'm just saying...don't you need to breath? Won't it be hard for you to swim all the way there without getting tired, too?"

She smiled. "I put a spell on myself a long time ago so that I would never get tired of any physical exercise. Why else do you think I pass gym with flying colors?" she asked, chuckling to herself at her own joke. "And for the breathing thing..." she closed her eyes and muttered a few words, and I could almost see a purplish glow around her. For that second, the atmosphere seemed to tighten around us and only us as I watched, in a trance. "Done."

"That's it?" I asked. She laughed and nodded. I smiled, and said, "Well, then, what are we waiting for?" We both dove into the water.

Jenna swam faster than a normal person, basically because she could. She could kick up a notch and swim harder. Her muscles would not ache or give out, her breath staying put in her lungs, supplying her with enough oxygen to last forever. It was amazing to watch, really.

When we'd arrived on the island, Jenna waited patiently for me to dry off. When I was all finished, we began exploring.

It was easy to be caught up in the forest's vines and root, dirt uprooted and bugs crawling around your feet. But being me, and being throughout this forest so many times, I knew the way by heart.

Still, it astounded me how much the forest changed. I realized that I had been in the moon pool, but not the actual woods surrounding it since I left. The leaves and trees in it grew greener and denser, the hot humid air almost more so. It smelled faintly of pine and flowers, a wonderful scent. I could tell Jenna was really into it because she was exploring off the trail while still heading in the right direction.

We reached our final destination; the huge slippery rocks where the hole was located. I turned to face Jenna. "Okay, Jenna, this is where it is."

"Here?" Jenna said, looking around the sky in confusion.

"No," I said. I stomped my foot hard on the rock. "Here."

"I'm still confused," she said. I laughed, and led her over to the hole.

"Okay, listen, here's how you get it. If you don't go down right, you could flip over on the way down and—" It was a little too late for my rant, though, for Jenna took a step back, and fell down.

She slipped down the hole, wind whipping past her. I bent down and looked down the hole, as she screamed on her way down.

"You okay?" I asked, my voice echoing on its way down the hole.

I got an echoed reply of, "Yeah, I am but...whoa, what is _that_?" I heard footsteps crunch away on the sand.

"Jenna?" I called down. Due to no response, I muttered to myself, "Oh, great."

I got down on my knees and inched slowly down the hole, gasping when the hole swallowed me, and trying to hold my screams in as I fell in, headfirst.

I landed on my head, and it began throbbing. I rubbed it, and looked around. Jenna was nowhere to be found.

I followed the path up the stone stairs to the moon pool to find Jenna leaning over the moon pool in awe. She reached out her fingers to touch the water, slightly shaking, like she was afraid of what it might do.

I smiled in amusement, and couldn't help myself from sneaking up behind her. At the right time, just when her fingertips touched the surface of the water, I grabbed her shoulders, shaking her. I screamed a high-pitched scream.

"AH!" Jenna screamed, jumping up and spinning around in one motion. I held my sides, which were shaking violently, and laughed.

"That's not funny!" Jenna yelled, and pushed me lightly. I pushed her back, and we got into a small innocent fight.

Eventually, I accidentally pushed her into the moon pool. She didn't come up for a while. I soon got scared, thinking she might have drowned, but realization hit me: she still had the spell on her, which meant she could still hold her breath forever. She was probably just trying to scare me.

Once she broke surface, rubbing the water out of her eyes, she splashed me. I gasped, and had no choice but to dive into the moon pool with her.

When I transformed, she took one look at my tail and burst out laughing for no reason. I couldn't help but join into the laughter, and we chuckled together. I was having such a good time that I almost didn't notice my phone vibrating in the corner of the moon pool. But I did, and I saw that there was a new text message waiting for me.

_Oh no_, I thought. _It's probably B. Should I ignore it?_

_No,_ I decided. I had to face this problem. I bravely pressed "Open."

When I was done reading the message, and silently closed my phone. Jenna watched me curiously as I struggled to get out of the moon pool.

"What's going on? What did the message say?" Jenna asked. I finally had been able to hoist myself out and start to dry off.

"That," I said, taking a breath, "Was Cleo. She needs me at her house urgently. It's about Bella."

_**-Cleo POV-**_

"Did you make the popcorn?" Rikki asked me annoyingly. She took my answer as a yes when I handed her a bowl of steaming hot popcorn.

"Ready for the movie?" I asked, and Rikki opened her mouth to reply, when I heard a fierce knocking at the door. I put down my popcorn on the coffee table and got up to answer the door.

I swung open the door, hoping to see a pizza man carrying a stack of delicious pizzas that we didn't order, but instead all I got was two men dressed all in black.

"Police," one said, holding up a badge. "We're here for questioning on the murder of Isabel Hartley."

My mouth was as dry as cotton, and I couldn't speak. I just stood there, frozen like a block of ice, waiting for words to come. When they didn't, I opened my mouth to make some up. I wanted to stay strong and firm, so I said in a loud and steady voice, "Do you have a warrant?"

I swear I could see a smug smile on his face as he reached into his briefcase and pulled out an official looking piece of paper, with the words "_**Search Warrant**_" printed on top in bold letters. IT had info on it such as my address, names of people who needed to be questioned, and so on.

"Who needs to be question?" I asked, even though I had gotten an eyeful on the warrant.

He pulled back the paper and inspected it. "Cleo Sertori, Emma Gilbert, and Rikki Chadwick." He rolled up the paper and tucked it back in, impatient to get inside.  
I was defeated. He had a warrant, and I couldn't fight against that. If I did, who knows what would happen? Would he arrest me? "Come in," I said in a flat, uninviting voice.

We went back into the living room, where Rikki was munching away on her popcorn. She saw me first, and said, "Cleo, who was that?" Then she saw the two officers, and said, "Oh, that's who."

"Emma Gilbert?" one of them asked Rikki.

"No, Rikki Chadwick. What's it to ya?" Rikki said in a sassy attitude.

"Rikki," I warned. "These policemen are here to ask us some questions about Bella." She wore a shocked expression.

"Is Emma Gilbert here?" the second policeman said. I realized it was the first time I'd heard him speak. He was tall and skinny, with black skin and brown eyes. The first policeman was also skinny, just not as tall. He looked more official looking. Policeman Number One had white skin and blue eyes that burrowed into you like lasers.

I quickly read each person's nametag. The first one's name was Officer Fallon, and the second was Officer Halls. I gulped to clear my dry throat, and said, "No, she isn't here. I can text her to come here, though." Before getting an answer, my thumbs were flying across the keypad like lightning as I typed, _"Come to my house NOW. I'll explain later. It's about Bella. Important."_ I quickly pressed send.

I asked the policemen if they wanted coffee or anything, but they politely declined.

After a while, I heard the door bang open and someone wrestle off their shoes. She talked while she worked, not seeing who was in the room. "Cleo, what is it? I was at Mako with Jenna, turns out we were right. I told her that we were mer..." Emma arrived in the living room, and stopped suddenly. "Oh, hello."

"Emma, this is Officer Fallon and Officer Halls. They're here to ask some questions." Her eyes flashed, and she gulped.

"Yes, of course," she said, shaking. She sat down, and the questioning began.

They mostly asked about the night Bella disappeared, which was extremely uncomfortable, especially for Emma. Even though we were so open last year with the first policemen, it was different now. We realized we shouldn't have acted like that, and now, after a year, it had finally settled in and dawned on us how bad we acted, and it was a little embarrassing talking about it now. We had thought it was the past, but it was now the very near future.

"One more question," Officer Fallon said. "For Emma." He turned to her.

"O...Okay," Emma stuttered nervously.

"Did you run into Bella when you left to go search for her the first time?" Fallon asked.

_**-Emma POV-**_

Run into Bella? I didn't know how to respond. Did they know...? I couldn't lie to them, no, they were the police.

Before I could answer, Cleo cut in. "That is a ridiculous question. Of course she didn't. She said she didn't, right Emma?"

I looked down guiltily at my hands, not responding.

"I believe the question was meant for Emma," Halls said, saying it for Fallon. "Emma?"

I looked up into their waiting eyes. I knew they already knew what I was going to answer, but they wanted my side of the story. I decided to put on a brave face. They were obviously going to arrest me, so I decided I'd do it confidently and make sure they knew I wasn't lying. No, the lying was over. Not this time. I took a deep breath, and started.

"It was dark," I said absentmindedly. "And silent. I could hear my own deep breathing of fear. The guilt was settling at the bottom of my stomach. It was so intense I wanted to vomit." I watched as Cleo, Rikki, Fallon and Halls disappeared in the blink of an eye. I was suddenly surrounded by the view of the dark outside world from a year ago, on that night. I heard words—_my___words—talking about what I was doing, but my lips weren't moving. "I only had the flashlight, which was running out of battery, so it only provided dim light. I heard my footsteps crunching on the dried leaves on the grass. I expected any second for some serial killer to jump out from behind the trees and kidnap me, so I'd be a goner, like Bella." I laughed a bitter laugh. "I searched until I was certain I wasn't in the same neighborhood anymore. I wanted to give up hope and just return home with hopes that Bella would return by sunrise, but fear pushed me forward.

"Then I heard a rustling in the forest. I shined the flashlight on it, but I didn't see anything. I knew someone was there; ready to kill me, so I inched forward towards it. A figure appeared, and it turned around to reveal its face to me." I stopped talking for a second, but let the words wash back to me as it came in a memory. 

"_Bella?" I cried out into the endless black. She looked at me, her eyes wild and glowing._

"_What?" she hissed, and I could almost hear the venom in her voice._

"_I'm sorry," I apologized. "I'm sorry I acted like that, it was horrible. But please, for Cleo and Rikki, please come back."_

"_It's a little too late for that," she said, eyes squinted. She advanced towards me, and threw me to the ground with all her strength. I hit my head with a bang, and it left a hollowing ring inside my head._

_I got up slowly, trying to regain my thoughts inside my head and register what happened. I must have looked frightening to her, because she took a step back in fright. I took that advantage, and said, "Get out of here before I freeze you into a block of ice." I held up my hand threateningly._

_She didn't say a word as she turned her back to me and ducked into the forest. I wordlessly headed back to Cleo's house._

_**-Cleo POV-**_

I gaped at Emma. She was staring into space, not looking at anyone. The policemen were scribbling things down in their notepad. Rikki looked just as shocked as me.

How come we didn't know this before? It was something we were supposed to tell each other...

Emma soon gathered what was happening, and looked at the policemen. She had her arms stretched out on her legs far, like she was waiting for them to handcuff her.

"We will be back later," Halls said, and him and his partner got up and shuffled out the door quickly, no explanations and no looking back.

"I have to go," Emma said quickly. She gathered her things in a flash and headed out the door. It swung silently behind her.

"We should check on her later. You know, make sure she's okay," I said. Rikki looked at me.

"Do you think Emma lied?" she asked me.

"What?" I said, confused.

"Do you think Emma had something to do with Bella's death? Was there more to the story?" Rikki asked, twiddling her thumbs.

"No," I instantly answered. "I mean, we know Emma. She wouldn't do something like that, right?" I looked at her, and she looked away. That was the thing. We didn't really know if we knew Emma the way we thought.

_**-Emma POV-**_

I stared at my reflection long and hard. I twirled a string of my long blonde hair in my fingers, and then studied my eyes, blue and open. I looked at my make-up, simple and basic. I realized I had a specific look, something that could be altered immediately.

I grabbed the pair of scissors resting on my desk, and studied them with anticipation. I rubbed the shiny surface, remarking at the cold of the blade.

"What are you doing?" I heard. I spun around to find Cleo and Rikki in the doorway, looking at me.

Before I could speak, I broke down into sobs, hugging them. "They're going to arrest me, and I'm going to rot in jail," I sobbed, squeezing them close.

"No, no they won't," Cleo said soothingly. "I'd make them throw _me_ in prison before they'd be able to lay a finger on you."

"Thanks Cleo," I said appreciatively. "But Cleo, if they find more evidence like what I just told them, they might suspect I killed Bella."

"It's...possible," Rikki stuttered, and Cleo elbowed her.

"Exactly," I said. "So that's why if they ever arrest me, I might need to run away."

The two girls looked at each other, then Cleo said, "Emma, if you ever do run away...promise you'll tell us first."

"Promise," I said in a singsong voice. I knew I probably wouldn't keep the promise, because then the police would most likely drag them down with me.

"So," Rikki said, flopping on my bed. "Have you made up your mind?" Something told me she was trying to get off the current subject.

"About what?" I asked.

"About coming to Bella's funeral," she replied.

"Uh..." I said, frowning a bit. "I don't know..." They looked at me attentively, waiting for some kind of answer. "But I guess, if you guys want."

"Good," Rikki said with a smile. "That's good."

_**-Cleo POV-**_

I was quiet throughout the exchange between Rikki and Emma, mostly because there was a single thought lingering around my head, eating away all my other thoughts, agonizingly slow. I looked up to see Emma and Rikki's conversation, though I couldn't hear a word.

"There's something I need to tell you guys," I interrupted. They turned to stare at me. "I think Will is Bella's killer," I said seriously.

"Why? Will is—_was_—Bella's boyfriend, so why would he do such a horrible thing like that?" Rikki inquired.

"Because he was talking about how they got in a fight the day she went missing, and he said, and I quote, 'I kind of wanted to get rid of her...for good.' Now I'm no investigator, but that sounds awfully fishy to me."

Emma and Rikki exchanged a glance. "I guess," Rikki said slowly, almost like she didn't believe me.

"Guys!" I said loudly. "I thought you'd believe me, not act like I'm a loon."

"Sorry," Emma said. "I guess it could lean one way or the other, but let's not jump to conclusions, okay? But to give you credit, it does give me the chills."

"Yeah," Rikki agreed. She checked her watch. "Listen, guys, I have to go. I need to pick out a dress for Bella's funeral tomorrow." She groaned. "Can you believe it? A _dress_?"

Emma and I giggled, and watched her leave. Soon afterward, Emma departed too.

I started to shuffle through my closet to pick out a good dress. I finally settled on a one, and got a pair of black flats to match. I was about to try them on when my dad called me down to eat dinner.

I arrived downstairs, and was delighted to find an arrangement of Chinese food to consume on the table. Once I was done eating my load, I took a fortune cookie.

"These are my favorite part!" Kim squealed, and then opened hers up. She squinted at it, confused.

"What's your fortune, Kimmy?" Dad asked.

She shrugged, and stuffed the fortune in her pocket. "I don't know. Something about jealousy, I think. I got to run, I'm going to Karen's for a sleepover tonight."

Dad went upstairs, and Kim grabbed her overnight bag and went out the door, which left me alone. I fingered my fortune cookie, and then broke it in half.

I took out the little slip of paper that was implanted inside, and excitedly read it:

_Are there such things as double funerals? Because you're about to discover disaster at one._

_-B_

My heart stopped cold as I read the small font. I swallowed, and stuffed the fortune in my pocket, not looking back.

**A/N: Remember; please answer my question I asked at top in the reviews. I'm curious. Ciao!**


	8. Chapter 6: The Funeral

A/N: Thanks for the answers to my question :) This chapter will be of Bella's funeral. Enjoy!

Marril96—Lol, glad you found my story, thanks for reviewing!

WillowSuzzaGleeee—Love your detailed reviews, they help me a lot!

I got a lot of reviews, they make me soooo happy! Thanks soooo much!

_When one man dies, one chapter is not torn out of the book, but translated into a better language_

_-John Donne_

Chapter Six: The Funeral

_-Cleo POV-_

I caressed my black dress that was beneath my fingertips. It was plain; short sleeved and really pretty matched with my black tights, but something was just keeping me from putting it on.

"You probably should put that on before you're late," Kim advised me from the doorway with a sharp attitude.

"Go away," I moaned, even though I knew she was right. I hadn't even brushed my hair, let alone got dressed and did my makeup yet.

"Just giving you some helpful advice," she said innocently. "Here's some more advice: let her go. She's not coming back. She never will, of course, she's _dead_ for crying out loud! Let. Her. Go," Kim said bluntly.

"I said, go _away_!" I screamed, launching a pillow that was on my bed at her. She threw it back, and happily walked away, all smiles.

I decided she was right (about getting ready, _not_ about letting her go) and did my makeup. I then pulled on my black dress and tights, and squeezed into my small black flats. I made a mental note to get new ones, as they were tight. I then ran a brush through my hair and pinned it up in a bun.

When I was all ready, I walked downstairs.

"You look beautiful," Dad said, kissing me on top of my head. I smiled. I was a bit better now.

Dad drove me to the funeral home, with promises that he'd pick me up when it was over. I spotted Emma and Rikki at the entrance, and rushed over to meet them.

"Hey," Rikki said, half-smiling. "So, how's this gonna go?"

"Well, first we go in and there will be open casket, where we can say goodbye," Emma said, always in on the plan. She said it with a hint of dread in her voice. "Then we'll go to the church, and her friends and family will take turns speaking about her." Emma looked at us. "Do you know what you're going to say?"

Rikki and I nodded, and she continued, "Then we go to the cemetery and she's buried." She said it easily and smoothly, as if she'd practiced—or didn't care at all.

"Shall we go?" I asked, motioning to the door. The two grimly nodded and followed me inside.

We were swamped with people paying their respects to Bella, kneeling by her casket and weeping, and talking to Bella's parents.

We parted, Emma going to talk to Bella's parents, Rikki milling around, and I went to Bella's casket. I kneeled down by her, and saw her pale face, catching the light. I felt a tear fall, and whispered so low that no one could hear, "I know you're not dead, Bella. I know you can hear me right now. Please, please come back."

I guess I just couldn't grasp the reality of Bella being dead. Either that or I couldn't find a more reasonable explanation to why we were getting messages from B. But I sounded insane.

"I brought you something," I whispered, and unearthed something from my pocket. I lay in on her stomach. The blue gem of her old necklace sparkled in the light.

"You left it at my house the night you disappeared," I said. "I just thought I'd reunite you with it."

I stared at Bella for a long time, and then realized that there were other people in line waiting to pay their respects, so I quickly left.

I met up with Rikki and Emma. "My dad is waiting to take us to the church. Ready to go?" Emma asked.

"Yeah," I said, and Rikki nodded in agreement. We followed Emma out into the parking lot, where we went into her car and left.

We were silent on the way to the church. No one wanted to say anything, so no one started a conversation to break the silence among us. Not long after (but it certainly felt that way) we arrived at the church.

We thanked Mr. Gilbert and we all piled into the pews at the church. I went to silence my cell phone, but it rang with a text right before. Annoyed, I went to silence it, but the text sent to me caught my eye,

_Thanks for the necklace._

_-B_

The text was short, sweet and to the point, almost as if it was sickening to B to be nice. I almost felt—however weird it might sound—_connected_ to B in a way. It was strange, and I certainly couldn't tell the girls. They'd flip out.

Bella's mom and dad were called up, and they each gave a heartfelt speech about Bella, how courageous she was, how strong she was, and they shared a few stories from her past. When they were done, I was called up.

I took a deep breath, and took a few shaky steps up to the front. I turned around, smiled wearily at the audience that had tears running down their faces, and said, "I've known Bella for about a year, maybe a bit less. But, despite the fact that we haven't known each other for long, I feel as that I have gotten to know Bella more than anyone. I've gotten to know her secrets," I cast a glance at Emma and Rikki, "Her lies, her tears, her fights, her laughs, her smiles, and mostly, I've gotten to know Bella in a way no other has." I took a deep breath, and said, "I've gotten to know Bella as a friend."

I stood there for what seemed like an hour, but was only a few seconds. I slowly walked back to my seat, proud of myself—something that hasn't happened for a while now.

Rikki was up next. When she was walking up, I caught a glimpse of writing on her hand—her speech. I covered my mouth and stifled a laugh, and Emma caught my eye, looking at me curiously. I just turned my attention back to Rikki, who was standing behind the podium.

"Bella," Rikki started, smiling. "Whenever I just say the name Bella, it brings me back to the day, about half a year ago, that me and her were sitting on her bed, doing homework. It was Literature homework. Boring stuff," she commented, and some giggled. "We had to do acrostic poems using our first name, and she had everything but the last letter. An A," Rikki said, as if they didn't know. "I suggested, 'a friend,' and she was happy with the idea. This memory, and many more, should still be with us. I won't forget them; I hope you won't either. Because Bella was a special girl, and deserves to be remembered." Rikki beamed, and walked back to her seat.

"Nailed it," she whispered to me, and Emma and I smiled. Same old Rikki.

Just then, Emma was called up. She walked up to the podium, not exactly looking confident, but looking certain. She cleared her throat, and the microphone squeaked. Some cringed, but some acted like the noise hadn't bothered them. Emma, trying to look nonchalant and shrug it off, adjusted the microphone and began to speak. "I haven't known Bella for long," she started. "Even less than Cleo, who said a year," Emma said, motioning in my direction. A few eyes landed on me.

"Actually, I knew her for about a day," Emma said, cracking a smile. "But here I am, knowing Bella for a day and making a speech about her." She continued, "I knew Bella on an important day. The most important one in my eyes, it seems. I was there the night Bella disappeared." People remained motionless, like they already knew. They probably did. "Even though I barely knew her, I somehow wish I could've gone back and somehow righted things so she never walked out of that door. If only I'd stopped her, things could have been different." Emma sealed her lips tight, done with the speech. Everyone was nodding in appreciation, knowing she probably just felt bad about being there and wanted to stop it from happening. But Rikki and I knew the truth.

Emma returned to her seat, not making eye contact with Rikki or me. Rikki and I exchanged glances, and then shrugged.

One last person was called up, someone who we didn't recognize. She stepped up to the podium, wearing a velvet black dress with a black flower on it. She had tan skinny legs that looked like they could snap at any second. Her shoulder length shiny brown hair was neatly straightened, and she smiled, revealing a row of bright white pearls she probably called teeth. The person looked around our age, if not a year younger because of her shorter height. She looked familiar to me somehow, but I couldn't put my finger on it. Suddenly, my eyes widened as I realized who it was.

"Who's that girl?" Emma whispered to me, out of her trance she went into during her speech.

"Her name is Violet," I said back, unable to take my eyes off of her, sensing how much she'd changed.

"You know her?" Rikki asked, stunned. I didn't reply because she begun talking.

"Hello, my name is Violet, and I was Bella's friend back when she lived in Ireland," Violet said. It was strange; she didn't have an Irish accent, more like a New Zealand accent. Maybe that's where she had lived before going to Ireland.

"We instantly clicked, mostly because both of our parents moved around a lot and we could relate. So, we were about nine when we were friends. I knew her secrets; she knew mine. We were regular BFFs," Violet said jokingly. She cleared her throat, and moved on. "But before we knew it, Bella was turning ten and she was moving. And I was going other places," she said. "So we promised to write, which was a strong pact until we moved around more and eventually lost contact. That is, until I was informed she lived in Australia, which was great on my behalf, that meant we could meet up again, because lo and behold, I lived in Australia too!" she said, smiling.

"But _then_ I was told I was invited to her funeral, which could only mean one thing." She took a deep breath, and then continued, "I never did stop thinking about Bella. Where she moved, what she did and how she did it was foreign to me, but I still thought we had some sort of a mental connection." She smiled, and said, "Thank you."

We were dismissed to our cars, where Emma, Rikki and I scrambled to Emma's dad's car. I, on the other hand, was also on the lookout for Violet, but I couldn't find her.

Her dad drove us to the cemetery, where we got out and thanked him again. We then went and joined the small group gathered around the coffin.

In all honestly, my mind zoned out too many times to make sense of the words. Whenever I _did_ listen, I couldn't piece his words together to make sense. All I did was unthaw my body enough to place a rose on Bella's coffin.

A thorn on the rose pricked me, and a drop of blood came oozing out. I stuck my finger in my mouth, trying to stop the bleeding. I tried to redirect my thoughts, but they were stuck on something: _What if this is karma? What is me getting pricked was some way of Bella telling me she was still here?_ Of course, it was just my own insanity thinking for itself, so I chose to ignore it.

Soon we were dismissed, and I thought: _We weren't here for long. _But of course we were, I had just zoned out most of the time.

Emma and Rikki started towards Emma's dad's car, and I walked towards my dad's car, when Emma pulled me over and whispered, "Hey, it's that girl Violet."

I turned to see her walking proudly towards her own car, keys in hand. Right then I was sort of jealous how she could walk like that after what had happened, and she had such a good life. But I quickly dismissed the thought when Emma said, "She's supernatural."

I spun around, stunned, to face Emma. "How can you tell?"

She tapped her head. "Sixth sense, remember?"

Right. I looked back towards Violet, who was now opening her car door. It was a nice car, if I knew correctly, a Neon. I turned to my dad, and gave him a signal that said, "One more minute?" He mouthed, "Take your time."

"Come on," I said, grabbing Emma and Rikki's arms, their protests in the back of my mind. We walked at a fast pace over to Violet's car, where she had just started the engine.

"Hey," I said to the open window, startling her a bit. She squinted at me, like she didn't know if I was a mirage or not. "Violet, right?"

"Yeah," she said uncertainly.

I took a deep breath, and said, "Do you remember me?"

She blinked rapidly, and said, "Uh...Cleo, I think, right?"

I smiled, knowing she did remember me. "Yeah," I said softly.

"Cleo..." she said, thinking hard. Her face scrunched up as she thought, her eyes closed. She opened them and said, "I don't know, it starts with an S, right?"

"Close enough," I said, laughing. "Cleo Sertori."

"I haven't seen you in forever," she said. "Ever since..." I stopped her, putting my finger up to my lips.

She looked confused for a second, but soon understood when she saw Emma and Rikki. "Oh. And who are they?"

"These are my best friends Rikki," I said, motioning towards her, "And Emma." I showed her Emma.

"Nice to meet you," Violet said warmly with a great smile.

"You're a witch, right?" Emma blurted out, getting right to the point. Violet looked stunned.

"What?" she said. "How did you know?"

"Call it a sixth sense," Emma said, not approaching the subject further.

"You're a witch? Things sure have changed since we last saw each other," I said.

"I'll say," Violet said.

"And if you don't mind me telling you, Emma, Rikki and I are mermaids," I said out of the blue.

"Cleo!" Rikki hissed, hitting my arm hard.

"What? I felt she needed to know, we now know she's a witch." My answer made sense to me, but by the look on Emma and Rikki's faces, not so much to them.

"A mermaid. What a coincidence considering..." Violet trailed off as I shot her a death glare. She understood.

Instead, Violet continued, "When you touch water, right?"

"How'd you know?" Rikki cut me off from my words that weren't yet formed.

"Call it a sixth sense," Violet said, mocking Emma, but in a good way. She smiled at Emma.

"I have a friend who's a witch," Emma admitted.

"That's so cool. Maybe I could meet her," Violet gushed, but then stopped. "Wait...she's not an evil witch, right?"

"Evil witch?" Emma said, confused. "I thought there were only good witches."

"No," explained Violet. "See, good witches are witches who use white magic, and never use it against the innocent. Evil witches use it for their own gain and to harm people. Black magic, as you would say," she said seriously. "Evil witch's goals are to destroy good witches and make everyone an evil witch."

"Wait, they can make evil witches? Can good witches make other good witches?" asked Rikki, always full of questions.

"No, good witches cannot make other good witches. And evil witches can make people evil witches, but it only works if that person is miserable or sad." Violet shrugged. "Good witches try to destroy evil witches in return. Go figure. Endless battle, right?"

There was a silence that overtook us, but I broke it as I said, "Well, I think we'd better get going. But...can I get your number?"

She laughed. "Of course, as long as I get yours." We swapped numbers, and soon we all left.

_-Emma POV-_

As soon as I got home, I raced out to the ocean. If there was anything that helped me clear my mind, it was swimming.

Jenna approached me, and said, "Hey, Emma, what's up?"

I smiled, and said, "Just about to go for a swim." I plopped lazily down on the sand and said calmly, "Can I ask you something?"

"Yeah, sure," Jenna said, sitting down next to me.

"Why didn't you tell me about evil witches?" I asked, my eyes to the sand.

She looked over to me to see if I was serious, but my eyes were still entwined with the ground. She gazed out into the ocean and said, "How do you know about them?"

"Cleo met up with a long-lost friend who is a witch," I said bluntly, tracing a heart into the sand. I absentmindedly wrote, "A+E" in the heart, thinking about Ash. But I shook my head, clearing my thoughts from going off track. "Why didn't you warn me?"

Jenna sighed, and said, "I didn't think you'd need a warning. You probably won't come as close to an evil witch for her to want to turn you into one."

"By the way, how do they do that?" I asked, now curious all over again.

Jenna shrugged. "Once they've caught you in your time of despair, most cast a spell. Others have special powers where they can wrap your arms around you," Jenna did so to me, "And you soon fall into blackness. Once you wake up, you're an evil witch."

"Creepy," I said, wanting Jenna to get her arms off of me. No offense to her, of course, but it churned my stomach thinking about it.

Jenna sensed my distress and took off her arms. "So, what do you want to know?"

I thought for a second, then said, "Who are there more of: evil or good witches?" I wondered if Jenna heard me, because there was a sea breeze that carried my words along with it.

Jenna caught my words and sent her own back, "It's really close, but probably evil witches, since they can make more."

"Well, that's comforting," I mumbled. "Wait, but can't good witches destroy evil ones?"

"Yes, but it's very hard. Evil witches have an upper hand and more magic." Jenna's eyes trailed to the heart I made.

"And evil witches can destroy good ones in return?" I asked, creating an outer circle around the heart, with Jenna watching me.

"Some do. Most just take their powers. Evil witches can do that. Good ones can't, hence, evil witches having an advantage," Jenna explained. She was really good in detail; I hung onto every word.

"Wow," I said, not really knowing what else to say.

"Anything else?" Jenna asked, dusting her hands free of sand.

"No, not really," I said.

"Can I ask you a question?"

"What?"

Jenna pointed to my heart I made. "A+E?"

Embarrassment flooded to my cheeks in the form of a blush. I held my tomato-red face in my hands and said, "Yeah, Ash and Emma."

Jenna looked at it for a long time, and said, "Oh, okay. Want to swim?"

I nodded, smiling. I was waiting for her to ask that. We ran together into the ocean.

_-Cleo POV-_

I had changed out of my funeral outfit into something more comfy—gray sweat pant shorts and a red tank top to invite the promising sun into my skin. I was walking—no, running—to Will's boatshed. I wanted to apologize for running out of his place the last time I was there and for avoiding him. It was really stupid of me to think he was B's killer—he was her boyfriend, and loved her, right?

I was running because I hadn't been practicing for long. If I wanted to try out for the track team in a week, I had to be good, and that meant extra training.

I jogged to the dock where his boatshed was, and started for the door when I heard a muffling sound from inside. I kicked over a box (not too loudly) and hopped on it, just outside Will's window. I peered in, and to my shock, I saw Violet in there with Will.

She was shaking her head, hands on her hips. Will looked like he was trying to reason with her, but got only more backtalk from Violet. I craned my neck to hear the conversation, but to no avail, I couldn't hear anything but muffles. I eventually gave up and hopped off the box.

I was going to start running again, but didn't really feel like it. I knew I shouldn't have listened to that tired feeling inside me, but it won over and I dove into the ocean.

I decided to see if anyone was at Mako. I speed swam there, not wasting any time to go through the underwater entrance and found Rikki, Emma and Jenna there.

"Hey guys," I said, obviously a bit uncomfortable with Jenna there. But she quickly melted that away with a friendly wave.

"Hey," the three greeted me.

I wanted to tell them what I saw, but didn't really want to tell Jenna. I finally gave up trying to rephrase my sentence in a sort of code, and said, "Guys, Violet was at Will's boatshed today."

"Violet, is that the witch you told me about?" Jenna asked Emma with a friendly smile. Emma nodded back.

"Wait, why was she there? How does she even know Will?" Rikki asked, folding her arms. She was in human form, standing on the sandy shore of the moon pool next to a wet Jenna, while Emma was in the moon pool with me.

"I have no idea!" I said.

Rikki groaned, covering her face with her hands. "I hope it's nothing. There is already too much drama around here. Anyway, I got to go."

She was about to dive into the moon pool when I said, "Wait, why?"

"Staking out Denman. Just wanting to know what she's up to," Rikki told me, and jumped into the moon pool, disappearing.

_-Rikki POV-_

I had to admit, I was a little curious as to what the Denman demon had up her sleeve. I actually kind of admired her for her devious ways, not unlike yours truly. I wasn't even halfway to where her boat was docked when my phone buzzed.

I flipped open the crappy phone to see a text message:

_Everyone can see through your façade, Rikki. You're not as tough as you look. Denman can win you over with a stare._

_-B_

I scoffed at the message and flipped it closed. Was that supposed to scare me? B telling me I wasn't tough? Well, news flash to her, I've been through worse things than that silly little message and her stupid games. And if she wants to see someone who's not tough, look at herself! Sending anonymous messages and can't even show her face!

My little steamy mental rant got me to where I wanted to be: Denman's boat. Without a second thought, I climbed aboard with no further permission. _I'll show B tough_, I thought, smirking to myself.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa there," a gruff looking guy said, holding up his hands in front of me. He looked younger than the rest of the crew: Denman's age or younger. I didn't recognize him, so I figured he must have been hired after the little incident with mermaids. Denman must have not informed him of what happened. I didn't blame her; I wouldn't want to be working with a crazy who thought mythical creatures existed. The guy continued, "No persons without permission required aboard."

I rolled my eyes. "Is that something Denman taught you? Pathetic. Tell Denman she's got company, I'm a friend," I said in a sickly sweet voice. "And if you don't let me past, well, let's just say there isn't just girl here."

I guess I must have frightened him a bit, because he rushed to get Denman as I smirked. I pulled over an older looking man and said, "I'm parched. Fetch me a glass of lemonade with exactly six ice cubes. Failure to do so, and I tell Denman to fire you."

He must have thought I was close to Denman enough to tell her this, so he shook his shaky head up and down and said, "Y-Yes, ma'm." I snapped my fingers in front of his face and he sped off.

I couldn't help but laugh. Bitchy Rikki was fun to pull off, but too much of it wasn't me. It'll show tough to B, right?

Deep down inside, I felt foolish to show someone I didn't know in real life how tough I could be. But up at the surface, I knew I didn't care because it was just so damn fun.

Soon, the boy came out with Denman right on his heels. Denman was saying, "What do you mean, I have company? Who would..." She stopped when she saw me, eyebrows raised and eyes narrowed to look venomous. I copied her actions, showing her how dumb she looked.

"Have a seat, Rikki," she said coolly, pointing to a chair by a white table. I sat down, and she seated herself on the other side. "So, Rikki, what has been going on since I've left?"

I snatched an important looking tan folder off the table, and looked inside. I noticed how Denman didn't flinch as I did so. "I'm not here to be questioned, Denman, I just want to know what you're up to."

"Fish population count," she said fiercely.

"That's what you said last time," I retorted, slamming the folder closed as I found no interesting things in there—just record data and photos of fish.

"It's true," she insisted, crossing her arms. "Maybe some shark interests here, but nothing more."

"No mermaids?" I said, raising an eyebrow. "Wow, Denman, that's a first." I reached over and grabbed another folder. This time, Denman tried to grab it from me, but I was too fast for her.

I wondered what was so important that was in here, and I soon got my answer as I opened it up. Two pictures were in the front. One was of the first picture Denman got of us with her underwater cameras—the one with two mermaid tails entering the Mako underwater entrance. The other was of all three of us swimming, our faces showing.

I looked at the rest of the information—the top one was an official looking sheet of paper with "_Cleo Sertori_" written at the top, with information about her printed on it. The next read "_Rikki Chadwick_" and the last "_Emma Gilbert_." There was also the paper Denman wrote about the sample of DNA she got from us during our first clash.

I shut the folder and glanced at a guilty looking Denman. "I guess you haven't given up. This also means that we'll be seeing a lot more of each other." I gave her a snidely smile and began leaving when I was stopped with the guy with my lemonade. I snatched it from him without so much as a thank you, and gulped some of the cool refreshing liquid down my throat. When I was paces away from the boat, I couldn't help myself but to count the ice cubes in the drink. I laughed when I realized there were six—exactly what I asked for!

I threw away the plastic cup when I was done and jumped off the dock. In a matter of seconds, I grew my tail. I knew exactly my destination: the middle of the ocean.

I raced past fish and seaweed and colorful coral to get to a deserted place in the ocean. I looked down at my hands—I still had the folder in my hands. Good, so I hadn't dropped in on the trip here! The outer shell was eroding and ripping, so I finished the job by ripping it even more until it was nothing but disintegrated shreds. I buried the pieces deep under the sand.

I next took the two pictures. The color was draining off the picture, smearing, and all it looked like were fuzzy blobs. I ripped the pictures to pieces and buried them under the sand too, in a different spot than the folder.

The ink on the papers were smearing and trailing off into the vast ocean. I quickly ripped up the papers also, again burying them.

I dusted my hands off, feeling accomplished, when I felt a familiar tug on my chest that meant I needed air. I rose to the surface, knowing that the folder wouldn't bother us again.

_-3__rd__ POV-_

Back on Denman's boat, Rikki had just left, taking the folder with her. Denman was feeling quite foolish; her face red from being humiliated and taking advantage of by a teenage girl. Mostly, Rikki had the folder, with every piece of evidence inside. She knew Rikki would demolish the folder. It was all Denman's hard work.

The young man who got Denman for Rikki—his name Dr. Scrith—walked up to Denman, and said, "She took the mermaid folder didn't she?"

Denman, not knowing what to say, said, "Yes, she did. You were hired after the run in with mermaids. How did you know..."

Dr. Scrith whipped out a folder similar to the one Rikki walked away with and handed it to Denman. "I have my sources," he said, explaining the answer to Denman's question.

Dr. Denman opened up the file to see exact copies of the pictures she formally had—color and all. She studied the other papers—exactly what she had in her same folder.

Denman smiled devilishly. "Donavan, these times are when I love you the most." Denman pulled Scrith close and sealed the deal with a kiss.

A/N: Ooo, so some trouble with Denman! What'll happen next? And what's up about the whole thing with evil/good witches? Will you find out next time? To see if you will, review and read on!

PS: Okay, I saw this on another fanfiction story, and thought it was so funny I'd add it here: I'll roast my marshmallows with your flames! :D Ciao!


	9. Chapter 7: Race Against Time

**A/N: Thanks to my lovely reviews and reviewers! Okay, news, please read! One, I am now a beta reader. If you want me to beta you, message me! Two...well, sorry I haven't updated in a while, I have a lot of back to school things to do. If you guys need a refresher on what happened previously, let's see...Violet and Jenna are witches, the girls just found out there are good and bad witches, Denman is back and has a file containing the girls as mermaids, and that's about it I guess. Enjoy! PS: Sorry if my writing seems to swerve a bit, or weird random stuff happens, because through a bit of this I was listening to music while writing, and I write what the song says to, i.e. if it's a sad song, write sad stuff. You know.**

_A wonderful fact to reflect upon, that every human creature is constituted to be that profound secret any mystery to every other_

_-Charles Dickens_

**Chapter Seven: Race Against Time**

_**-Cleo POV-**_

As soon as I saw the poster I knew I should do it.

I was on a morning jog before school when I saw a white piece of paper with colorful words on it. I smiled, ripping down the poster and taking it with me.

I bounded into my house where my dad and Kim were getting ready, Kim pouring milk into her dry cereal and my dad making coffee. The warm aroma drifted to my nose as I shoved the poster to my dad.

"Good day?" he said smiling, taking the paper from my hands and looking at it.

"You could say that," I grinned, showing him my pride.

He took one look at it, and said, "A race? Today? Don't you think it'd be a little late to sign up now?"

Even though I barely looked at the sheet, I basically had memorized it by heart. "No, there are late entries allowed. Please, dad? It's just a fun competition, and look!" I pointed to a spot on the paper. "The winner gets one hundred dollars. Wouldn't that be great?"

"It's two miles," he read, furrowing his brow.

"I can do it," I insisted. "Child's play."

"Well," my dad said, letting out a long breath and handing me back the paper. "I don't see why not. And who knows, you may end up winning the race."

"Thank you dad!" I said, hugging him firmly. "Swing by around 4 o'clock, that's when the race is."

"Where is it?" he asked.

I took a sneak peak at the paper, and said, "Oak Creek Park, you know where that is, right? The race will be along the road on the side of it, then through the forest and eventually loop back to where the start is."

"Great," he said, ruffling my hair. "I'll be there."

"As will I," Kim piped up in her annoying tone. "I want to see you get creamed."

"Get lost, Kim," I groaned, but didn't let her negativity get to me. I quickly got ready for school and headed off.

_**-Emma POV-**_

"Bye Emma!" Cleo said, giving me a wave as she hopped along to her locker giddily like a seven year old.

"Does she look a little happy to you?" Jenna asked, emerging behind me as I stopped at my own locker.

"Yeah, it's because she entered this race today," I said. "She told me to come."

"Cleo races?" Jenna asked, surprised.

I shrugged my shoulders. "It's news to me, too. Hey, you can come if you want. The race is at four at Oak Creek Park."

"Nah, I can't," Jenna said mildly. "I'm busy."

"Busy doing what?" I asked. "Got a hot date?"

Jenna smiled mischievously. "As if," she said, rolling her eyes. "No, I have to study for Biology if I don't intend to fail."

I waggled my finger at her. "Hey, there's nothing wrong with failing, okay?"

She rolled her eyes. "Well, I got to go. See you," she said, walking away.

I began walking to my next class, when all of a sudden I bumped into someone. We didn't drop our books or anything, so we were about to walk by each other without a second glance and just a simple, "Oh, sorry," but I looked up to see none other than Charlotte.

"Hey Emma," she said tenderly, wiggling her fingers at me in a nervous wave like she was afraid I was going to bite her hand off.

"Long time no see," I said, smiling. I still didn't 100% trust the girl; I mean she knew our secrets, and could spill them at any time. And that would be the total Charlotte thing to do.

"So, Cleo's entering a race today, is she?" Charlotte said, raising her eyebrows in mock doubt.

I raised _my_ eyebrows, too. "How'd you know?" I said, instantly suspicious.

Charlotte rolled her eyes. "Do you think I couldn't with Cleo twirling down the hall, practically yelling out her news?" She surveyed my look, and said, "And don't worry, I'm not planning an evil revenge plot against her. I'm over it."

"So you _are _coming?" I said, still not trusting the girl.

Charlotte let out a slow breath. "Yes. And if you say I can't, then go ahead. I won't come then."

I wanted to protect Cleo more than anything, but when I went to open my mouth and ward her off, I couldn't, as if locked in a trance. I slowly closed it and took a deep breath, not saying anything.

Charlotte's grin widened, sensing what was happening. Then, she did something unexpected. She pulled me into a hug with her.

I was in shock, my body frigid as if I was a stuffed doll. Soon enough, Charlotte let me go, and said, adding to the stun, and said, "You're a good friend." Then she left.

"What the hell was that?" Rikki asked, suddenly appearing by my side. She wore a confused expression, and was chewing on a stick of mint gum.

I shook my frozen head, still looking at Charlotte's disappearing figure. "I don't know. I really don't."

"Wow," Rikki said. "So, are you coming to Cleo's racing thing?"

"Yeah. I think she'd kill me if I didn't," I said jokingly. "She's pretty wound up about this, you know?"

Rikki nodded. "Like a little kid full of candy. One word: hyper."

I looked at Rikki weirdly. I just shook my head, and told her I needed to get to my class if I didn't want to be late. In the middle of that, the tardy bell rang.

"Damn it, thanks Rikki," I said sarcastically.

"It's my job," she said. When I began walking away, she stopped me.

"What, are you trying to make me more late then I already am?" I asked her sternly.

"Come on, lighten up. Let's skip," she said giddily.

"Um, no thanks," I said. "I really don't want to." I then walk down the hall, leaving Rikki behind.

_**-Rikki POV-**_

I shrug my shoulders briefly. I knew Emma would never join me. It was just fun seeing her freak out at my requests.

I walked down the hallway, intending to run out the double doors and into the bright sunshine and enjoy it while the class lasted. I was walking; my feet making all-too-loud footsteps, when the last person I had expected to see stopped me.

"Will?" I asked, puzzled. "You skip?"

"Of course not," Will scoffed, as if the possibility were ridiculous. "This is my free period." He showed me a set of keys and jingled them, letting off a tinkling sound. "I help the staff here."

"Will," a voice said down the hall, and I turned to see Mr. Murphy storming down the hall. "Who's this?" He looked at me, and I froze.

"This is Rikki," Will said coolly. "She's helping me with those files you asked me about."

It seemed at the moment Mr. Murphy didn't believe him, but he just huffed and started down the hall.  
"Thanks," I said, letting out a long breath I was holding. "I could've been busted."

"No worries," he said. "And if you want, I want to show you something."

"Sure," I said, smiling at him. It was the least I could do for him after he saved me. He led me down the hall and stopped at the janitor's closet. He pulled out his set of keys and unlocked the door.

"What are we doing in here?" I asked, stepping into the closet. The fumes of cleaning supplies filled my senses, and I clapped my hand over my nose to escape the smell. I've always hated the smell, and I guess I wasn't the only one.

"Yeah, I know. It smells," Will said, but he wasn't holding his nose.

"You're used to it?" I asked, gagging a bit as I smelled the scent.

"Yeah," Will said, not looking at me. He dragged a chair over to a spot in the middle and hopped on it. Curiously, I watched as he slid the vent off the air duct jutting out of the ceiling and hopped off.

"Ladies first," he said, motioning to the ceiling.

"Are you kidding me?" I asked, momentarily forgetting about the rancid smell and let go of my nose.

"The ducts here are so big they can fit an elephant if they wanted to," Will insisted.

I still looked at him, dumbfounded. "Come on," he prodded. "Haven't you seen those people on TV who've done this all the time? Haven't you wanted to experience that?" I guess Will really wanted me to go in, so he said, "If you don't go, we'll be stuck in a closet with this smell forever."

That won me over. "You're right, ladies first," I said quickly as he chuckled.

"Just hop on the chair, then pull yourself into..." he started, but I cut him off.

"Shut up, Will," I muttered, and jumped, not using the chair, and caught onto the sides of the square hole in the ducts and pulled myself up and into the air duct.

After I made it up, I realized I had to lie on my stomach to fit. I helped Will into the air duct, and together we started crawling through the duct.

"What's the purpose of this?" I asked to Will, who was behind me. I got up quickly to look at him behind me, and accidentally hit my head on the top of the air duct. "Ow!"

"Look," Will said, pointing to something. I squinted my eyes to see a vent, and as I looked out, I saw that I could get a good view of the hallway in between the cafeteria and Mr. Randy's room.

"Whoa, you could like, spy on people here," I said in one breath, and chuckled. The bell rang, which echoed off the air duct's metal sides. Startled, I jumped and banged my head on the top of the air duct. "Ow!" I screamed again loudly.

"Shh," Will shushed me, putting a finger to his lips. "I'm not supposed to be in here, nonetheless you too. So let's just leave quietly and you'll make it to class on time."

I rolled my eyes. My main concern wasn't really getting to class; it was more about the big bump now swelling on my head from where I'd hit it twice. Will lead me out to the hole where we'd come through, and we both hopped down. Once my feet hit the ground and the aftershock pain snaked up my legs, I pulled down my shirt and looked at Will, who had come out of the duct first. "Well, that was fun, I guess. Do you do this often?" I asked Will, rubbing my head again.

He shrugged, his bronze hair bouncing on his head. "Not as often as I'd like. See, I don't really want to get caught, so I don't do it a lot."

I nodded my head. He might not want to get caught, but I really didn't care. "I guess it would suck if you were caught crawling around in the ceiling."

"Yeah," he replied. "And if I do, I won't be able to be a teacher assistant anymore."

I nodded again, and told him I needed to get going to my locker. I started walking away, and found my locker. In a rush to get to class on time, I grabbed my books from my locker and slammed it shut, racing to my next class.

Once I got there, I plopped lazily down in one of the back row seats next to Emma just as the bell rung. "Right on time. You're lucky," Emma whispered to me, not wanting to upset the teacher. "Where did you go last period?"

I was about to tell her about my adventure in the air ducts, but stopped myself. "I went outside to enjoy the fresh air. You kind of miss it when you're cooped up inside all day, right?" Emma slowly nodded like she understood what I said.

I was about to talk more to Emma, but the teacher interrupted us by asking for us to turn in our homework. Surprisingly, I actually did it, so I swiftly handed her my crumpled up piece of homework, which probably had all the answers wrong on it. Then, I slumped down at my desk to endure the rest of the lesson.

About twenty minutes into the class, I was on the brink of falling asleep, when the announcements came on and scared me. "Could Rikki Chadwick please report to the principal's office? Rikki Chadwick, please."

I was startled to hear my name, and my cheeks started turning red as everyone turned to stare at me. I ducked my head, mumbled something unintelligent to my teacher, and pushed open the door to go to the office.

I walked down the hallway, rubbing the bump on my head the whole way. I was in deep thought. Why did they need me to come down to the office? Was my dad here to pick me up? But why would he be? Did something happen? Was I in trouble? I could only find out by asking the secretary, which was good because my troubled thoughts brought me all the way to the office. Taking a deep breath, I opened the door, and it swung inwardly. I took a small step inside.

"Rikki Chadwick?" asked the secretary. I studied her. Did she look mad at me? Happy? Pitiful? I couldn't read her expression. I guess she learned how to keep it undercover after years of working here. I was too distracted to reply to the old woman at first, but I shook my head and said, "Y-yes, that's me."

"This way," she said. I thought she would get up and lead me to the room, but she just pointed at a long hallway. "Third door on the right."

I nodded glumly, and made my way down the hall, in no rush at all. I passed the first door. A freshman teacher came out of it, holding a thick stack of math papers. I read "Copier Room" on the door.

Second door read "Guidance Counselor." The door was wide open, and I took a peek inside. I saw a young woman with light brown hair writing in blue pen on a piece of paper. Her long locks fell in the way of her vision often, and she pushed them back behind her ears each time. She looked up and saw me, and gave a friendly smile and wave as she returned to her paper.

I walked steadily down the hall to come upon the third and last door. It read "Principal's Office." Suddenly, I felt like a little first grader that threw crayons across the classroom and was waiting to be punished with a stern "Don't do that again!" I reached for the handle, and twisted it. I entered the small, hot room and immediately noticed my principal sitting at his desk, his hands folded together. "Rikki Chadwick?" I nodded. He motioned to have a sear.

I reclined into my chair and eased my arms on the armrests. "What did you need me for?" I asked easily and coolly, except for inside I was freaking out.

He got straight to the point by saying; "You did not attend last period class, now did you?" Damn, I silently cursed. Gossip around this school sure did go around fast. "And you also have been skipping classes a lot lately. Care to comment?"

I blew out air onto my bangs, which fell in my face. "Uh, will I be needing a lawyer?"

Principal Mackey leaned on the desk to get closer to my face. "Listen, Rikki, you've been in trouble a couple of times in the past, so I'll make this quick and simple. If you skip one more time, I'll be forced to pull you out of the play and have your understudy fill in for you."

"No!" I said, jolting forward. He could give me all the detentions he wanted, but pulling my out of the play was definitely something I needed to attend classes for. "I won't skip anymore, I promise. Anything, just don't take me out of the play please."

He nodded his head in understanding. "Alright Rikki, but one more time and you're out."

I smiled, and said, "Yes, of course. And I should probably get going back to my class." He nodded.

I pushed open his heavy wood door and was about to exit the office when I suddenly took an unexpected turn and headed to the nurse's office.

"May I help you?" Nurse Clementon asked, looking up at me.

"Yeah, can I have a bag of ice for my head? I bumped it when I..." I trailed off; growing quieter, but soon picked up with, "Fell down in the hallway."

"Sure," she said, and busily filled a plastic bag with ice. Once she was done, she handed it to me and I happily thanked her.

I fell into a quiet pace down to my classroom. I couldn't help but sigh with open relief. What would have happened if Principal Mackey had just decided then and there to take me out of the play? That would be horrible. My understudy was Miranda Turner, and she seemed nice enough, but she had this ridiculously tiny voice that the front row had to crane their necks to hear. And also, Zane was playing the male lead, and the female lead (me) and him had to share a kiss, which was easy since we were in a relationship, but I would hate to see my boyfriend kiss a strange girl.

I walked into my classroom, and everyone turned to look at me once more. Ignoring them, I sat down at my seat next to Emma. I could tell she was trying to get my attention to talk to me, but I was really not in that kind of mood so I ignored her too.

The bell rang not moments afterward, so I gathered up my things and headed out the door, relived that another class was over. I was that much closer to the play rehearsal.

_**-Emma POV-**_

"Emma?" asked Cleo, walking besides me.

"Yeah?" I replied, looking at her. I squinted my eyes against the glare of the sun. We were both outside, walking away from the school. The day was over. Rikki would have been walking home with us, but she had play rehearsal.

"I, uh, kind of wanted to practice running for this afternoon by running home," Cleo said. "Are you going to run with me?"

I really didn't feel like running, and besides, I sucked at it. I just didn't want to hurt Cleo's feelings. "Actually, I'm pretty bad at running. I'd just slow you down, you know? Go on ahead."

Cleo smiled like that was the answer she wanted me to give. Maybe it was. "Oh, okay, well thanks for being considerate. Later." She began jogging off into the distance.

I started walking towards my house, but stopped. I turned to see a few students left at the school. They were probably here for play rehearsal. I shrugged my shoulders. I had nothing better to do than the race this afternoon, so I entered the building.

The school was so much more quiet and eerie without students walking up and down the hallways, chatting up a storm. It was like when all the kids where in their designated classes, but I noticed that the end of the day was even more silent, because otherwise you could still hear the noise from inside the rooms. I liked the silent.

I heard a dull buzz of excited students, and I followed the noise until I came upon the gymnasium. Before entering the wide double doors, a girl with a long purple dress came out, with another woman with a clipboard following her. "So," the purple dress girl said, "During the first scene when I enter from the right, I say, 'What is the meaning of this?' right?"

"No, you say, 'What is going on?'" Clipboard Lady said.

"Darn it! I'll work on that," Purple Dress Girl said, snapping her fingers, her mouth twisted in an angry scowl.

I left them be and entered the gym, where I was stopped by an old woman I had never seen before. She looked strict, had her graying hair in a tight bun. Her owl-like black-rimmed glasses didn't hide her incredibly beading and blaming eyes. "Who are you?" she demanded the information out of me, and I couldn't help but feel a little intimidated.

"I-I'm Emma Gilbert, I'm Rikki Chadwick's friend," I said, stuttering. "I just wanted to check out the rehearsal."

"No," she said firmly, tapping her clipboard twice with her pen. "No one is allowed to see until the opening on Friday."

I narrowed my eyes at her, trying to intimidate _her,_ but she just kept looking at me. We had a small stare down until she said, "Well, are you leaving?"

I just rolled my eyes, and said sarcastically, "Thank you for your time." I went out the doors.

I was making my way to the exit, dreaming up things to say to my mother to explain why I was late, when my phone started ringing. I took it out of my pocket, only to find out it wasn't ringing, it was just a text message. I hit open, and read:

_Not the first time you've been excluded, huh?_

_-B_

"What?" I said out loud, angrily shutting the phone. I had never been excluded out of anything!

I pushed the message out of mind and set it on something else: getting home.

_**-Cleo POV-**_

"Did you sign up yet?" Rikki asked, just approaching me as I was stretching.

"Yep," I said. "Four other contestants." I motioned over to the other girls. "I've met all of them, but that one was pretty mean." I then pointed nonchalantly to one of the blonde runners.

It was precisely 3:45, and in the time I had arrived fifteen minutes ago, I had signed up, gone through the route the race would be taking place, and met all the other runners. I began to show Rikki each of the runners.

The first runner was a tall blonde, wearing a lot of make-up, but she was one of those girls who could pull it off. Her long blonde hair was pulled into a ponytail, not a stray hair out of place. Her skin showed a slight tan. Her name was Laura, and when I met her, she seemed very...set on winning. She was probably one I'd run into trouble with.

The next runner was an African American girl. She had light black skin, and black hair in a bob. Her eyes were an amazing green color. When I first met the girl, she seemed very open and energetic, introducing herself as Samantha, but telling me to call her Sam. She then wished me good luck. Sam seemed really nice.

The third girl was shy, speaking quietly to me as I introduced myself. She had very pale skin and shoulder length jet-black hair. Her eyes were a pale blue. This shy girl's name was Autumn. I had quietly wished her good luck as I introduced myself to the next girl.

The last girl's name was Phoebe. She had fiery red hair, as long as Laura's, tied into a messy ponytail. Her brown eyes held excitement, and she also couldn't help herself from bouncing all over the place. I noted that she was probably a fast runner. She was practically bubbling over with energy.

"Interesting crowd," Rikki said, studying over the girls. "Good luck." I nodded, knowing I'd do my best.

"Hey guys," Emma said, jogging over to us. "I hope I didn't miss anything."

"Nonsense, the race hasn't even started," I said, stretching out my legs and jogging in place.

"Wow, Cleo, you're taking this pretty seriously," Rikki said, looking me over. "You realize this is just a fun little race, right?"

"A fun little race that if I win, I get one hundred dollars," I said. "And besides," I continued, lowering my voice a bit. "I decided that I was doing this to kind of...show B that this thing wasn't going to our heads. Right?" I said, grinning from ear to ear.

"I guess," Rikki said, shrugging. Cleo nodded, and began stretching again.

OoOoO

It wasn't long before I was lined up with Laura, Sam, Phoebe and Autumn, with the person who was holding the contest on the line, about to tell us we could start running.

"Go Cleo!" I heard a voice to be recognized as my dad's and Rikki's combined. I began to blush, embarrassed.

"Go!" Mrs. Vegas—the holder of the contest—said, while waving a checkered black and white flag, and we all started running.

I got off to a good start, with only Laura in front of me. Before long, I had passed Laura, and was on my way to victory.

I couldn't help but smile as I felt the wind whip my hair. I was growing tired, of course, but I kept running.

I was pretty sure I wasn't even in the line of vision of any of the other contestants anymore. I was probably going to win this and get a hundred dollars! This was going to be great!

I kept going. The tiredness was now sweeping through my entire body, and my breaths were becoming shorter. I watched the trees pass by in a blurry blob of green and brown. I was running through the path through the forest, my feet hitting the ground loudly, when all of a sudden it happened.

I was running, when I just randomly tripped. I knew deep down that there was nothing on the path, not even a tree root, because my eyes were on the ground at that exact same moment. As I fell, I ran through the images through my head as I blacked out and lost sense of it all. Something had tripped me. No. Someone had tripped me.

What I saw was a hand grabbing my ankle.

_**-Rikki POV-**_

"Shouldn't the runners be _done by now_?" Kim whined, sitting on the hot grass and fanning herself.

"Shut up," I murmured, making sure no one but her heard. She gave me the evil eye and continued fanning herself.

I was also hot under the blazing sun, but I was trying to bear with it. Kim complaining wasn't helping.

"Can we go now?" Kim asked Don. "I'm sure Cleo will be okay with us leaving."

"No, Kim, we have to support your sister," Don insisted, his eyes turning back to the trail, waiting for them.

"Listen, Kim, if I buy you a Popsicle or ice cream or something will you stop your whining?" I asked, eyeing the concession stand in the corner, and fingering a few bills in my pocket.

"Sure," Kim said, brightening up. I'm sure she was just going to start up again once she was done eating her icy treat, but anything to hold her off for a while I would go with.

Kim asked the lady working at the stand for a frozen lemonade, and I got two bottles of water. I paid and Kim started happily eating her snack.

I returned to the site where we were patiently waiting for Cleo, and I handed Emma a water bottle. I twisted the cap on mine, breaking the seal, and took a sip.

"Thanks," Emma said, doing the same as me. Kim seemed much happier now that she'd cooled down, and I admit I felt better drinking my cold water.

"Now all we do now is wait," Emma said to me, and I sighed, looking at the exit of the forest.

_**-3**__**rd**__** POV-**_

Laura, Sam, Autumn and Phoebe were all about evenly matched, but by a little bit Phoebe was in the lead of the four, Laura trailing close behind, Sam in behind Laura, and Autumn last. But of course, Cleo was in the lead.

The girls kept running, despite their tiredness. They didn't talk to one another, for that would just make them even more short of breath. Besides, what did they have to say to one another?

It was Sam first to spot Cleo, lying down on the dirt path, her arms sprawled different ways. "Cleo!" she called, and stopped running, bending down to look at her.

The other girls were alerted by Sam's cry, and stopped running also. They turned their heads to see Sam kneeling down by Cleo, taking her head with care.

"Careful!" Laura, always the one to point out harsh reality, said. "It could be a trap."

"Laura!" Phoebe said, squinting at the girl. She was the only one with enough guts to stand up to her, mostly because the two girls went to the same school and Phoebe was used to her meanness.

"What should we do?" piped up a small voice. Autumn.

"I think we should all help carry her back to the finish of the race," Phoebe said. "She probably tripped and fell. Maybe she has a concussion."

"No way!" Laura's voice cut in, slicing the open air. "I came to win. So win is what I'm going to do." She began running off.

The girls looked at each other, silently challenging each other to stop her. But, in the end, they all came to the same realization that Laura was just not worth it. They all lifted Cleo up, which was surprisingly easy with three people pitching in. They all began to tromp down the trail, each one asking Cleo to wake up once and a while.

_**-Emma POV-**_

"Poor Cleo," I heard Don say, and I snapped up my head, my attention focused less on the grass I was studying and more on the finish line. There, was a blonde girl crossing the finish line.

"That doesn't make any sense," Rikki said, wrinkling her nose. "Cleo was ahead of her."

"The blonde probably pulled ahead of her sometime in the race," I informed Rikki. Thinking it was no big deal; I shrugged, and just hoped that Cleo would make it in second place.

Soon afterward, we all heard the same thing. It was the distant cry of help. Mrs. Vegas shot up like a rocket, and began running into the forest.

"What's going on?" Rikki asked me, but I was wondering the same thing.

We all waited anxiously, until Mrs. Vegas and the three girls left in the race besides Cleo were all helping to carry something. I craned my neck to view it, but realized it was Cleo!

"Cleo!" Don called, and ran up to his daughter. Rikki and I ran behind him.

They laid Cleo out, all of them shaking her and urging her to wake up. Cleo clenched her eyes shut, and began to open them.

_**-Cleo POV-**_

I was eloped in warm darkness. I couldn't feel, I couldn't think. Everything I thought I forgot a few seconds later. I barely even knew what I was doing here. Where was everyone? I thought I was in a race. What had happened?

I suddenly heard it. "Cleo!" a disordered voice said, unattached from the speaker. "Cleo!" I heard it again. It sounded louder, clearer, and it hurt. I tried to clap my hands over my ears, but I realized again I couldn't move. I decided with myself that I was dreaming. It seemed like a reasonable explanation. Then why were the voices sounding so real?

"Cleo!" I heard an ear-shattering scream. I mentally screamed, wanting it to end.

"Stop!" I heard someone plead, and I thanked him or her in my head. It wasn't before long that I realized the speaker was me. If I could talk, that meant I was waking up. If waking up meant stopping the voices even more, I would take it. I forced my eyes open, only to close them again, when the harshness of the sun blinded me.

"Cleo," a soft voice said. I noticed it to be my dad. He wrapped me up in a hug, asking what had happened.

"I don't know," I said, opening my eyes once more. I squinted, getting used to the glint of the sun. "I really don't."

OoOoO

"That was scary," Emma said, munching on a BBQ chip. We—Emma, Rikki, Violet and I—were all in my room, exactly an hour after the incident.

"Tell me about it," I said. "Who all was there to support me?"

"Me, Rikki, Violet, your dad, Kim, Will, I think Lewis, and I don't know who else," Emma said.

"There was a blonde that was there. You guys didn't see her. I met up with her and she asked if I knew you, and I answered yes, and asked if she wanted to talk to you guys. She said 'No,' kind of fast, and walked away," Violet said. "Any idea whom?"

"A blonde? Our age?" questioned Rikki.

"No," Violet replied. "Early thirties, maybe."

"Denman? What was she doing there?" Emma asked. I was in deep thought. I had yet to tell Emma and Rikki that someone tripped me.

"Violet, did you see a red head there?" Emma asked. "Her name is Charlotte."

My head snapped up. "Charlotte was there?"

"I kind of invited her," Emma said slowly, looking guilty. I shot her daggers through my eyes.

"Yeah, I think I saw a red head our age, but she was leaving early," Violet said.

Now I knew it was Charlotte. "Um, Violet?" I asked. "Could I please talk to Emma and Rikki alone?"

Violet was very understanding with a perky, "Sure!" She grabbed the chips to return them downstairs, shutting the door behind her.

"Guys, someone tripped me," I said in a hushed whisper, just in case Violet was still near by.

"Some_one_?" Rikki asked, puzzled.

"Yes, I saw a hand. I think it was Charlotte, because she left early. And if my hunch is correct, she might also be B."

"Charlotte?" Emma asked, dumbfounded.

"It would explain her sudden niceness. Maybe she didn't want to look like a suspect, although the sudden change of heart did make her look suspicious," Rikki said.

"Maybe she's doing it for revenge," Emma said. "And the fact that she left early does kind of tie it together."

"Exactly," I insisted.

We were interrupted by Violet opening the door and singing, "Are you guys done in here?"

"Yes, yes we are," I said.

Violet, suddenly looking guilty, said, "Well, actually I have to talk to Cleo privately now." She laughed. "My turn. You don't mind, right?" She glanced at Emma and Rikki.

"No, no, of course not," Emma said, smiling. "Come on, Rikki, let's go." Rikki nodded and headed out.

Once the door was closed, I looked at Violet curiously. She took a deep breath and started explaining.

_**-Rikki POV-**_

Once we were heading out the door, I stopped, spun around, and held my ear to the door.

"What are you doing?" Emma whispered frantically.

"Lighten up, Em, it's not like they're both serial killers and we're there next victims," I said in a low voice. "I'm just curious."

Emma, not wanting to invade anyone's privacy, just let me eavesdrop as she waited patiently for me to be done.

I began to get the words to form together, and caught their conversation. "...Have to tell them someday." It was Violet talking.

I only picked up odds and ends of the conversation. Cleo began talking: "...Not as easy as you think...when we met...can't tell them now...waited too long."

Now, I caught Violet's entire sentence: "Either you tell Emma and Rikki, or I do." I pulled my ear of the door.

"What did you hear?" Emma asked, now more curious than ever.

"We aren't the only ones with secrets," I whispered, my eyes lowering to the ground.

**A/N: Yay! Chapter is done! Hope you enjoyed, and what do you think the whole secret is? Find out next chapter (hopefully faster update.) Ciao!**


	10. Chapter 8: The Almost Explanation

A/N: Hey guys, hope your enjoying school. My teachers are nice and funny, but all in all I dislike school. This is another late update, I'm so sorry, it should be the last one, I promise you. It's just that I've been pretty sick, what was a sore throat turned into a cough and me barely being able to breath, and almost collapsing in exhaustion of walking from one class to another. So I almost went to the hospital, but I'm getting better :) Hope you enjoy the chapter.

_Ghosts, like ladies, never speak till spoken to._

_-Richard Harris Barham_

**Chapter Eight: The Almost Explanation**

_**-Cleo POV-**_

Ever since I was tripped at the race, I was on high alert. I hadn't told the girls, but I thought B had it out of me the most. I mean, I was the one who broke my ankle over Bella's body. I was the one who was tripped. Why? I had no idea.

I adventured down the hall and to the cafeteria, where I bought my lunch and sat down outside with Emma and Rikki. Like always this past week, Rikki picked at her fries, peeking every once and a while at me, and Emma just took in the uncomfortable silence and tried to lighten up the situation with small talk.

"So, are you guys done with the Algebra assignment due tomorrow?" Emma asked, trying to make conversation.

"Yes," I said, just as Rikki said, "No." I looked up at her to make at least a form of eye contact, but she quickly looked down.

"What did you think of it?" Emma asked warmly, glad she could make us talk.

"It's okay," I said shortly, shrugging my shoulders lazily. I took a bite of my apple.

We sat in awkward silence. I was comfortable with this; it had been this way since a week ago, which was when the race was. We had not gotten a message from B since.

"Do you think B is finally letting us go?" Emma asked, bringing up the subject like she could read my mind.

"I don't know. It doesn't seem like her," I said, and Rikki remained silent. She chose that time to check her phone, as if B had heard and sent her a message.

We ate until about five minutes till the bell. I was sick and tired of the awkwardness, so I said, "All right, what gives?"

Emma looked at me, faking confusion, and Rikki said, "What are you talking about?"

"What is up with you?" I asked, directing my question more towards Rikki than Emma.

Emma opened her mouth to answer, but Rikki beat her to it, saying, "Shouldn't we be asking you the same thing?"

"Rikki!" Emma scolded, like a mother scolding a child.

"What?" I asked. Had I done something? Said something to insult them?

"Nothing," Rikki spat angrily.

"Fine, then if you won't tell me, I'll just be going," I said, picking up my lunch tray. There wasn't a say when the three of us hadn't sat together (besides when Emma was away and when we weren't friends) and even though there was only five minutes until the bell, it still felt wrong.

I turned my backs on them and walked away slowly, hoping one of them would call out, "Cleo!" and tell me what was going on, but nothing happened.

_Fine,_ I thought. _I don't need them!_ I walked inside, and sat down with Lewis and his friends.

_**-Rikki POV-**_

"Did we go too far?" the always-worried Emma said. "It was kind of mean."

I snorted. Cleo deserved it, for not telling us the secret between Violet and her. We told each other everything, and yet she doesn't tell us this? "If anything, we went too easy on her," I reassured. "And anyway, I did all the talking. You just sat there like a lump. So she can't blame you."

Emma fiddled with her thumbs. Even though she wasn't talking, I knew she had to agree.

"So do _you_ think B is giving us a break?" I asked Emma.

She shrugged. "I don't know. Like Cleo said, it doesn't seem like her to do such a thing."

My phone buzzed in my pocket. I pulled it out and opened the text message. The first thing I saw was B's signature, nesting at the bottom like it deserved its special place there. "Speak of the devil," I whispered to Emma, rolling my eyes. I managed to read the whole text:

_I'm closer than you think, bitches._

_-B_

I let out a breath of air.

"What? What does it say?" Emma snatched the phone from my hands. Her eyes scanned the message, before she handed it back.

"Oh," she said. "Well that's...new."

She didn't have to tell me. B was a pro at death threats, not...this. The way it was put made me do a once over of the cafeteria to see if any suspects had their phone out. Nope.

The bell rang, and Emma got up without a word to throw away her food. She, no doubt, was going to Cleo to make peace and report her findings. But I wasn't going to fall that easily.

I caught up to Emma, and we were both going to leave the cafeteria when something stopped us. A high, shrill scream stopped us dead in our tracks.

_**-Bella's POV-**_

Throbbing. Darkness. Something beating, beating, beating...it hurt my head. I put my fingers up to my head, but nothing happened. I tried to open my eyes, but it was still black. I had no idea if my eyes were closed or not, actually.

What had happened? Where was I? _Who _was I? It shocked me to question, but I faintly remembered my own name.

_Bella,_ I remembered, and just as I had, I remembered some other things. A flash of a shadow, a forest, a glint off of something silver—a knife, footsteps, walking away, leaving me...

The glimpses didn't help me, but at least they gave me an idea. But what the hell was going on?

My eyes flew open, my head throbbing so that I could hear it pulse in my ears, like a marching band drum. I looked at my bright, bright surroundings. Everything was blurry and fuzzy.

"Can someone help me?" I tried to call out. I heard my words, but they were so hollow and empty I didn't even know if I really said them.

"Fine, then if you won't tell me, I'll just be going." I heard the words clearer than my own words. There was obviously someone else in this vast room with me. Didn't they hear me? Why weren't they helping me? I thought I was hurt or something was wrong with me.

My vision became better each second, until I finally was able to make out the room: a huge place with all white, long beige tables everywhere, and colorful posters hung up on the walls, contrasting to the plain color background. This place was familiar, actually, I was fairly certain I _knew_ this place; I just couldn't put my finger on it...

I soon realized I wasn't alone in this room. Someone stormed past me, rage radiating off of them. I looked up into her face—and soon recognized it.

"Cleo," I whispered, knowing the name better than mine at the moment. "Cleo Sertori." Even though I said her name loud and clear, she still stormed past me.

"Cleo, wait, help me!" I screamed. I thought I saw her head perk up for a moment, but it must have been my imagination, because she just kept on walking.

I was on the verge of tears. Was this some kind of sick joke? Was everyone in the room pretending not to know me? "Please stop, it's not funny!" I shouted just in case. "I'm hurt, please help!" I just started noticing that not only combined with my lack of memory and dizziness; I also felt pain in my chest and some in my arms.

"Cleo!" I wailed, trying to get the girl's attention, although I didn't see her anymore. I suddenly noticed a table next to me, occupied by two teenage girls.

"Did we go too far? It was kind of mean?" a girl at the table said. She had straight blonde hair, and sparkling blue eyes. Looking at her, I was hit with a wave of a headache. I closed my eyes, seeing something—popcorn, sounds of arguing, a door slamming, people calling my name; I was trying to reply, trying so hard...

I opened my eyes again and saw the other girl was replying with, "If anything, we went too easy on her." Something in her voice told me that she was cocky, stubborn and ignorant. She had curly blonde hair, a bit shorter than the other girl's. "And anyway, I did all the talking. You just sat there like a lump. So she can't blame you." Who couldn't blame her? What? Why was I hear, and why couldn't anyone hear me?

I looked at the curly haired girl, staring hard, and I suddenly was hit. I whispered, "Rikki." Just as I did, I was hit with a flash: an orange fish tail—no, a _mermaid_ tail, smiling, laughing, talking...it wasn't much.

"Rikki," I cried helplessly. "What's wrong with me?" I reached out my hand to touch her—only to realize my hand went right through her.

"Oh!" I cried, jolting back. I studied my hand, observing it. I looked at her, openmouthed.

I reached out to touch the straight haired girl, and I got the same results: my hand went through her head.

"I...I..." I stuttered, but it didn't matter what I said, they couldn't hear me.

"So do _you_ think B is giving us a break?" Rikki asked, folding her hands under her chin like she cared, but it looked like she didn't. The pain in my chest and arms increased, and I screeched out. I needed to get their attention if I ever wanted to get help.

I rushed over to a poster that read: "_Girl's Volleyball tryouts today! Get your sign up sheet in the gym!_" I reached my hands up to rip down the poster and get their attention, but to no avail, my hands went right through it. I suddenly noticed something up and down my arms—knife marks, as if someone had stabbed me.

I sauntered back to the table. Rikki and the straight haired girl were exchanging short words that made no sense to me. I studied the no name girl, until I came up with it. "Emma Gilbert." This time, I was not hit with another vision, but with a realization.

No one could hear or see me. I went right through solid objects. I had stab wounds up and down my arms. It could only mean one thing: I was dead.

I scoffed, not believing it. If I were dead, why was I here? Why could I feel pain? Was I supposed to see my friends before I moved on? Something inside of me told me that Emma wasn't anywhere near my friend.

The two girls were now huddled over a phone. I stood on my toes and read over the girl's shoulders:

_I'm closer than you think, bitches._

_-B_

Okay, that was...weird. The Rikki girl looked just as baffled as me, telling by her expression on her face. Emma begged to see the phone, and Rikki handed it to her. She read it, returned it, and said, "Well, that's...new."

Who was B? Wait. B...Bella? Me? Well, at least I thought it was me. I couldn't be entirely sure.

A bell went off, startling me. Rikki and Emma began to get up and leave. What do I do? Follow them? What if other people can see me? I hoped so; I was hurting.

I started walking in their direction, when something stopped me. I had stepped on a newspaper. I leaned down and was about to pick it up, when I realized it was no use—my hands would probably just go right through it. So I crouched down and read the uninteresting headlines. Something about more funds for schools, something about basketball, and suddenly, my life was turned upside down as I read something.

The date was printed in bold at the top. September 15, 2011 was what it said.

Numbly, I stood up. If that was the date, I was dead/in a coma for a year.

Calmly and surely, I let out a loud scream.

_**-Emma POV-**_

My head snapped up in surprise. I looked over at Rikki, who was jerking her head all over the cafeteria to find the culprit who had screamed.

"Did you hear that?" I whispered to her. It sounded loud, but in a way hollow, like it didn't even exist.

"Yeah," she said. "But it seems like no one else did." She looked all around her surroundings.

"Who was that?" I asked, now incredibly confused. "Did we just imagine it?" It was possible.

"No, I heard it, I know I did," Rikki said, confident in herself. "Shh, let's see if we can hear it again." We craned our necks to listen, but there were no sounds.

"Oh, well," I said, shrugging my shoulders. Rikki looked as if she wanted to stay and investigate, but I just brushed it off as our imagination and walked off.

_**-Cleo POV-**_

"It was so loud, I couldn't have imagined it," rambled Rikki. "I couldn't have, because Emma heard it too."

I looked at Emma. "You did?"

She shrugged uncertainly, wanting to say both yes and no. "Well, I _thought _I did, but I can't be a hundred percent sure."

I was lying on my stomach on my bed, randomly sliding my pencil lightly across my homework. I was stuck on Question #39, and whenever I couldn't figure something out, I doodled and erased my damage later.

The reason why Emma and Rikki were there after we had the big blowout at lunch was because Emma couldn't decide whether or not she chose to believe what she heard, so Rikki stormed over here to make me "smack some sense into her" (which were Rikki's words, not mine.) Rikki seemed to have forgotten our little dispute over trying to convince Emma.

"It does sound a bit strange," I drew out slowly, not wanting to upset Rikki all over again. "I mean, how many times do I hear a scream and no one else hears it?"

"Uh, correction, Emma heard it too," Rikki put in.

"Can we get off this subject please?" Emma pleaded, not wanting anything more to do with this.

"Sure," I agreed. "What's the answer to Question #39?" The question was directed for Emma, because I knew Rikki had not done her homework.

"For what subject?" Emma asked.

"Calculus," I said. I slid the paper over to her, and she squinted in curiosity of my scribbled lines all over the paper.

Emma slid it back. "We were only supposed to do the even numbered problems on the sheet," she informed me.

"Dang it!" I said, lifting my sharp pencil up and bringing it down to poke a hole in the paper. "I just did everyone, and I was almost done!"

"By the way, the answers was negative forty nine," Emma said, and I glared at her.

"Aargh," I said, frantically erasing every answer I didn't have to solve, wearing down my eraser down to nothing. "I hate Calculus."

"Speaking of Calculus," Rikki said, "When are you going to tell us what you told Violet that you were going to tell us eventually, the day of the race?"

"Huh?" I asked, super confused.

"Okay, number one, that had _nothing _to do with Calculus, and number two, stop pressuring her. She'll tell us eventually," Emma said calmly.

I snapped my fingers in front of their faces to get their attention. "Guys, I honestly have no idea what you're talking about. Seriously," I said. "Can someone bring me up to date?"

"We were...listening in on your conversation with Violet," Emma said slowly.

I raised my eyebrows. "You were _eavesdropping_ on us?"

"Actually, Rikki was. I wasn't," Emma said.

Rikki raised her arm. "Guilty."

I crossed my arms. "What makes you think I have anything to tell you?"

"Because I heard!" Rikki insisted. "Please Cleo, just tell us."

I stopped and stared at the girls. They looked genuinely concerned and curious. "Alright," I sighed. They were readying themselves for my story, when I said, "Tomorrow, lunchtime. We all meet in the inside table, the one far away in the left corner." We sat in silence after that, leaving Emma and Rikki wondering what they were putting themselves into.

**A/N: Sorry it's shorter than the other chapters, but I wasn't done and wanted to give you guys something. Okay, and by the way, when I was writing Bella's POV, I was like the whole time to myself, "What are you doing? You're going to erase this, right?" But I didn't. The reason I didn't is because most of you have already caught on that Bella's dead. Someone is posing as Bella. But who? That's basically my concept. I'm going to go now, wish luck for me on getting better again, I want to BREATH again without coughing, walk without suffocating. I'm just worried that I'll go into a relapse or something and not be able to breath at all. So all I can do is get a lot of Vitamin C (nurse's I talked to words, not mine.) All right, ciao!**


	11. Chapter 9: Was It a Good Thing?

**A/N: Thanks everyone for your reviews and kind words of wisdom (lol). Sorry again for a late update. Will you please forgive me when you find out it's my birthday? No? No forgiveness? Fine, happy birthday to me then...**

**(Anonymous Reviewer with no name): Wow! Thanks! I didn't think my story was that great...lol. Are you one of my reviewers just leaving an anonymous review? You don't have to be embarrassed! Thank you so much!**

**Marril96: I am basing my story of the TV show. I haven't read the books. I actually stopped watching Pretty Little Liars after the season one because season two was on at night on Tuesdays, and I am busy at that time (music lessons.) Plus, I started to watch season 2 a couple days ago, and I couldn't watch it without squealing every time Holly Marie Combs popped up (Aria's mom). I think I watch too much Charmed. Actually, I know I watch too much.**

**Chapter Nine: Was It a Good Thing?**

_A story to me means a plot where there is some surprise. Because that's how life is—full of surprises._

_-Isaac Bashevis Singer_

_-Cleo POV-_

"Happy Wednesday!" chirped the ever-happy Emma, bouncing in step, falling in place beside me.

"Not so happy," I grumbled, pulling my sweater tighter around me, even though it didn't do any good in the heat.

"Why so moody?" asked Emma, suddenly stopping. "Is it because you have to tell Rikki and I that thing today? Because I swear Cleo, you really don't have to..."

"No, Emma, not that," I cut in. "I'm fine with telling you, I am, I mean, I should tell you."

"Then what's gotten you all tied up in a knot of grouchiness?" Emma asked. "Is it that World History test?"

"Argh!" I cried out to the sky. "The test! I totally forgot!"

"What test?" Rikki asked, running down her lawn, breathless. She turned and waved goodbye to her dad, who was standing in the open doorway holding the door open with one hand. He waved, and the door creaked shut behind him. Rikki then joined us in our journey to school.

"World History?" Emma inquired. Rikki tipped her head to the side in confusion. "Well, I expected Rikki not to remember, but that's not like you, Cleo."

It was true. Ever since Charlotte tutored me, I definitely didn't want to go down that road again. I picked up my grades just enough for a B average, which was pretty good for me. "What's it on?" I decided to learn all I could before school and at least get a C.

"Ancient civilizations and their cultures," Emma said. "I have it in the bag."

"Of course," I muttered. I began searching my mind for information. Let's see...

"So what was really bothering you?" Emma asked, interrupting my train of thoughts. I stuffed my hands in my pockets and answered.

"My mom keeps calling. She wants Kim and I to visit for who knows how long," I said, keeping my tone of voice low, spotting Lewis coming out of his house. "She's calling so much that my dad had to unplug the phone."

"Who's calling too much?" Lewis asked, entwining his fingers and mine. I didn't answer at first, leaning into him on my toes and kissing him.

"No one," I said, biting my lip and looking down at the ground. Lewis didn't ask any questions, which was good on my behalf.

"Let's talk about something else," Rikki said. "Like...my play in two days!"

I groaned. "Well, you haven't shut up about it."

"You all are coming, right?" she asked, looking worried for a second.

Lewis, Emma and I all simultaneously pulled out the tickets from our pockets. "Wouldn't miss it," Emma said, smiling. Lewis snorted, and I stomped on his foot, reminding him how important it was to Rikki.

"Great!" Rikki said. "Broadway, here I come!"

I rolled my eyes at Emma, and she just smiled like, "How much more annoying could she get?" to me. I leaned into Lewis, hugging him, and we all walked to the high school.

Emma and Rikki started towards their separate classes. I gave Lewis a quick peck on the cheek before leaving.

OoOoO

Finally, it was World History, the class before lunch. I had managed to ask one of my friends from my earlier class for their study guide, which helped me with some things. What was worse was that my stomach was grumbling, demanding to be fed.

I watched the teacher pass out our tests, as I quickly did the math. I was hoping for all multiple choice, maybe one extended response question. I held my breath as my teacher came nearer and nearer.

If there were four options (A, B, C and D) and I guess A on every one, I would probably get about one fourth of the questions right. That was a 25%, which was an F. Oh, God; I was going to fail...

I glanced over at Emma, who was already on the fifth question. I watched as her sharp pencil scraped away at the paper.

"Ahem." I diverted my eyes from Emma to the teacher, who had already handed out my test. "Eyes on your own paper, or you get a zero," he said sternly.

"Yes sir," I said glumly, turning my eyes to my paper.

Question one wasn't a surprise, as was question two. Before I knew it, I was done. I had only gotten stuck on a couple questions, and I was the last person done. I handed in my paper to the teacher, and looked at Emma. She was reading a book, gnawing on her fingernails, probably not knowing what she was doing.

I turned to Rikki, who was staring off into space, mouthing her lines for the play. I slumped in my seat, sighing. I glanced back over at Rikki. She sat right next to me. I whispered, "Psst! Rikki!"

"No talking!" boomed the teacher. I shriveled up in my seat against the harsh glare of my teacher and the fellow students that surrounded me. I pouted, bored out of my mind. I just sat and waited for the class to be over.

Once the bell rung, I hopped up out of my seat and raced to the door. Everyone shuffled noisily out of the classroom and poured out into the hall.

I headed to my locker, where I dumped all of my stuff. I headed to the cafeteria, where I soon found Emma and Rikki sitting at a table together.

"Why did you talk to me in World History during the test?" Rikki asked rudely.

"Well, I was bored," I put in defensively.

"Well, you got yourself into unneeded trouble," she retorted loudly.

"Don't mind Rikki," Emma said. "She's just upset because she thinks she did bad on the test."

"Who actually knew listening in class worked?" Rikki muttered.

"Uh, I did," Emma put in, and Rikki shot her a death glare.

"So," Emma drawled. "You gonna tell us...the thing?"

Rikki instantly brightened and said, "Yeah. Are you? Hm?"

"Yes," I strained out. "But I might need someone else to help explain." I spotted Violet out of the corner of my eye and got up to walk over to her, with Emma and Rikki watching closely by me.

She was getting out of the lunch line, an apple and salad on her tray. "Violet!" I called, walking fast to keep up with her.

"Hey," she said smoothly, stopping to chat. "What's up?"

"I was wondering if you'd like to sit with us." I motioned to the table where Emma and Rikki currently sat.

"No thanks," she said. "I've already made plans." She nudged her head over to where Will sat. He spotted her, and waved.

"Will?" I said confused. "I didn't know you guys were friends."

A small smile played on her lips. "He's okay," she said, and walked away.

I walked back to my table. "What was that?" Emma asked me as I sat down.

"I don't know," I said honestly. "Something weird is going on."

"Oh, that's crap," said Rikki. "Will and Violet are friends. Got a problem?"

I sighed and turned around. "Okay, well, are you guys ready?" I asked, blowing out some air between my loosely sealed lips.

"I was born ready," Rikki said casually. "Go ahead." They both leaned into me like I was about to tell them a huge government secret.

"When I was nine, I went on vacation to the beach," I started off. "It was just for a day or two. I made some new friends." I closed my eyes. "Their names were Bella and Violet."

"You knew Bella and Violet before we met them?" Rikki asked, stunned. "I didn't know that!"

I continued, "So we went swimming together, built sand castles, regular little kid bonding-at-the-beach things. I noticed that Bella wouldn't stick even a toe in the water. She wouldn't even play tag on the shoreline with us. Violet just brushed it off like it happened all the time.

Violet said that she had something important to tell me. Bella was telling her not to tell, not to tell, not to tell. But Violet didn't listen, and told me straight out that Bella was a mermaid. Being a nine-year-old, I believed her, and asked Bella to prove it. We made sure no adults were watching, and we all got into the ocean, where Bella grew her tail.

I was interested. I ran my hand across her tail and asked her how she was a mermaid." I stopped for a second to study my friend's expressions, then went on, "She told me there was this island where she came from in Ireland. It was a pool of water that connected to the ocean, but neat thing about it was that it was underneath a volcano. She told me she jumped in just as the full moon passed over, and she was a mermaid.

Of course I told my parents once we got back to the hotel. They just laughed along; they never believed me. I'm glad they didn't."

"So you knew them before?" Emma asked.

I responded, "Yes. So that meant when we were on Mako Island and we found the moon pool..."

"You knew exactly what it was," whispered Rikki, turning to me. "You _knew_ once we jumped in, we'd turn into mermaids."

"It was every little kid's dream to be a mermaid," I muttered. "But when I saw the moon pool, I froze. What was I supposed to do? That was why I was a little reluctant to get into the water, but you guys kept persuading me. I was looking down at the sandy ground, then looked up and saw your two faces, and so I knew I should get it. So I took Rikki's hand and went under." I shrugged my shoulders.

"You could have told us," Rikki whispered.

"I know, I'm sorry I didn't tell you guys I already knew Bella, but she didn't remember..."

"No," Rikki butted in. "I mean that you didn't tell us before you got in. You kept it a secret like it was this big thing."

I looked up, surprised. "But it wouldn't have made much of a difference right?" She said nothing. "Right?"

"If you told me," Rikki started, Emma and I looking intently at her, "That night, I seriously wouldn't have gone in."

I looked up, astonished. "You wouldn't have?"

"Probably not," Rikki said honestly. "But if you showed me all the adventures and friendships we'd have, I might've."

"But you're glad you did?" I asked.

"I don't know," she said dumbly.

"You don't know?" said Emma. "What?"

"I mean, I love swimming, exploring the underwater sea life, having amazing friends, and just this secret in general, but can you see all the hardships because of this?" Rikki looked us dead in the eye. "Without mermaids we wouldn't have been caught by Denman. Without mermaids my boyfriend wouldn't have hunted me. Without mermaids we wouldn't have had to stop that comet. Without mermaids we didn't have to deal with the mermaid Charlotte. Do you see where I'm coming from?" Rikki asked.

"_But_," Emma said. "We tricked Denman. Zane now knows our secret and I'm _glad_ he does, because he watches out for you. You stopped that comet with..." She gulped. "...Bella. And we showed Charlotte a piece of our minds at the eclipse. Didn't that just feel so good?"

Rikki didn't answer. The bell rung, and we all got up to leave. I couldn't help but look back at Rikki, who looked like she was in deep thought.

OoOoO

"Three juices, one mango two strawberry kiwi, right?" I asked Emma and Rikki, who were sitting across from one another in their seats at Rikki's Cafè.

"Yep," chimed Rikki and Emma at the same time.

I walked up to the counter and ordered our juices. I paid with my money, along with the money Emma and Rikki gave me. I was waiting while our juices were being blended. I gazed over at Emma and Rikki. Rikki elbowed Emma, and pointed in the direction of the entrance.

I looked over, and saw a boy and a girl holding hands, walking into the cafè. I smiled, but then it dropped once I realized who the happy couple was.

"Violet?" I said, walking over to her.

"Hi, Cleo," she said brightly. "How's it going?"

"I didn't...I mean...I didn't..." I stuttered.

"Yeah, isn't it great?" Violet openly said. She slung her arm around her date—Will. "We're going out now. Wonderful, right?"

I glanced at Will, who was beaming. I looked over at Rikki and Emma, who had overheard my conversation with them and were now sitting, openmouthed, looking at us.

I swallowed, my throat suddenly dry. "Wonderful," I agreed wearily.

**A/N: Figured I'd put that twist. I enjoyed my birthday today, glad it came and thank you to all my friends who told me happy b-day (you know who you are!) Thanks guys for reading! Happy Halloween everyone, next update soon to come. Ciao!**


	12. Chapter 10: The Play

A/N: Hey guys, thanks for the happy birthday's, I loved them a lot. I'm all jumpy right now, my best friend auditioned for TV last night and got to meet a celebrity, plus she got a callback this morning! I'M SO PROUD OF HER! If only I can build up the nerve to try out myself, because I would like to be an actress and a director. I can dream can't I? Hope you enjoy the chapter!

**Chapter Ten: The Play**

_**The play was a great success, but the audience was a disaster.**_

_**-Oscar Wilde**_

_-Rikki POV-_

The next couple of days passed by in a blur.

Switched words, unnecessary complaints and hopeless sentences were all exchanged throughout it all, but who said I was listening? The only thing I was looking out for was more of B's texts, which seemed to be the only thing I was concerned about lately, if anything.

I tried my hardest to be careful around Emma and Cleo, as if they'd break if I were around them. I was afraid that they were angry at me for saying that I might not have wanted to be a mermaid in the first place. But that was just me talking about the first thing that popped up in my head. So it was silly, right? Right?

"Did you get the answer for question five?" I'd say.

Emma would turn around and glance hard at me, anger and loathing seeping down in her jealousy and hating eyes, her teeth gritting at the very sight of me. She looked like she was about to burst at the seams and knock me off my chair, as if it were really easy to do.

But then I'd realize I was imagining it as she'd smile and say, "Oh yeah, question five, that's easy. All you have to do is..." I literally drove myself crazy, as this happened more than once a day.

Finally, the dawn of the day of my play arrived. I had not had asked my dad if he was able to make it, but I already knew the answer as I saw him hunched over his desk, papers spilling off of it from the fact that he was simply too busy for me.

"Ready to go?" Emma and Cleo asked me as I walked down the path from my house to where they were standing.

"Yep," I said plainly.

"So what time is the play again?" asked Emma curiously.

I looked at her incredulously. I guess it was my own mind playing tricks on me again, but I was sure that they weren't coming tonight.

"Um, seven o'clock," I said uneasily.

"Cool," Emma said, smiling. She turned to Cleo. "I'll swing by your house and pick you up, okay?"

"Sure," Cleo said. She paused. "Hey, have you seen Jenna lately?"

Emma looked at her funny for that peculiar question. "No, now that you ask, I haven't. She's been absent from school for a while."

We all stopped and stared at each other in thought. I didn't know why, but we just did.

Lewis walked up behind us and scared Cleo before entwining his fingers in hers. "What's going on? Hey Rikki, I'm going to your play tonight."

"Do you think she's okay?" Cleo said, completely ignoring her boyfriend. I realized we'd started up walking again.

"Who?" Lewis asked. Cleo waved him off.

"I'll text her," Emma said surely, and whipped out her phone. She tapped a few buttons, and then hit _Send._

_-Emma POV-_

_Hey, Y haven't U been in school? R U going 2day?_

I hit send, and instantly my text message to Jenna was gone. "There," I said, satisfied.

There was no reply until we got up to the school, when my phone vibrated as we approached the front entrance. I waited until I was by my locker to take it out and check the message:

Yes

_-Jenna_

Yes? That was it? Why had she been absent? I sighed and shut off my phone and slid it into my pocket so that it wouldn't ring loudly in class.

"Boo," said a quiet voice behind me. I turned to see Jenna, smiling timidly at me.

I didn't return the smile. Jenna had been absent for a week, and she did not communicate with me whatsoever. Granted, I hadn't called or texted her until this morning, but she still should have before me.

"Why were you not here for a week? Were you sick?" It certainly looked like she was. Her skin had gone pale, and she seemed to have grown thinner. She also had bags under her eyes. Jenna also seemed to be much quieter; unlike the Jenna I knew and loved.

"No," she said quickly. "No, I haven't been."

"Then why were you missing?" I inquired. "You don't look good either."

She adjusted her backpack. She looked uncomfortable. Jenna muttered something that sounded like a sorry excuse, but then said, "So how much have I missed in math?"

OoOoO

I met up with Jenna at lunch. She had her plate piled high with food, which was understandable, considering it looked as if she'd never eaten in weeks.

We walked together to the table Cleo and Rikki were currently sitting at. Rikki had definitely been acting weird lately, and during lunch she didn't let up in her weirdness.

I watched Jenna eat just about everything on her tray. She looked happy to be back. I knew the feeling how you think it must be so great to be sick and miss school, but when you're really sick it sucks.

"So what were you ill with?" Cleo asked, assuming that was why she was absent. Cleo leaned forward.

Jenna stopped chewing for a second. "Um...bronchitis...I think."

"You think?" Cleo asked questionably.

"Uh, yeah, I mean you can never be sure," Jenna explained rationally. Cleo seemed to take the answer, leaning back and smiling.

"Hey guys," said a voice above me. I looked up to see Will, holding hands with a grinning Violet.

"Hey, I see the relationship is working out," Rikki said, motioning to Violet and Will.

"Yep," Violet said, squeezing Will's hand and kissing him. I turned to Jenna, to see she had stopped eating, and just was just sitting, staring at them.

"Hi, Jenna," Violet said in a sugary voice.

"Hi," Jenna said slowly in a bittersweet voice.

"You two have met?" Cleo asked.

Jenna and Violet stared at each other. "Yeah," Jenna said first. Violet smiled and nodded.

"Cool, witches meeting other witches," Rikki said. "Awesome."

Jenna laughed, as if Rikki's claim was ridiculous. Violet and Will quickly left.

"What's your problem with her?" I asked as soon as they were out of earshot.

"Hm?" the now tiny and fragile Jenna asked.

"It seems like you guys don't...get along," I said slowly.

"Eh, she's okay." It seemed that there was more to it, but I didn't pester. I didn't want Jenna to be even more stressed when she obviously didn't need that right now.

_-Rikki POV-_

"Do you know your lines?" asked a stagehand for about the millionth time.

"I've known them since the first week I received them," I said, determined. "I'm okay." Still, it helped that I was mentally going over my lines I was supposed to know for tonight.

It was currently after school, and we were having rehearsal. The play was at seven o'clock that night, so we all needed to be prepared. I watched as people desperately fled across the stage, gathering things and taking care of last minute chores. I just stood, practicing my lines over and over again until they would be stuck until I was eighty.

"Hey," said Zane, now appearing by my side. "How are you doing?"

"I'm honestly a nervous wreck," I said. "You?"

He shrugged. "Okay." No matter how good his façade, I could still tell that he was anxious.

I leaned up against him. "If I mess up will you laugh?"

"Yes," said Zane, smiling jokingly. I hit him playfully.

We ran through our play, which took about an hour and a half. When we were done, we were sent off to home, to prepare and come back in about three hours.

_-Emma POV-_

_Sleepover at my place 2night. Sound good?_

_-Jenna_

I smiled at Jenna's text, and replied that it was a date. As I looked at the time, I decided to call Cleo to see if she wanted to come to my place and get a ride to the school instead of us picking her up.

I called her, and she picked up on the third ring. "Hello?" she inquired.

"Hey, Cleo, why don't you just come over to my house then we'll head to the play?" I asked.

"Yeah sure. I'll be over in a half an hour." She then hung up.

In exactly a half hour later, she arrived. She was wearing a red tank top with a black vest over it, and a black pencil skirt. Her makeup was casual but at the same time not.

"Like it?" she asked, spinning around to let me see the full effect. "It says classy, but not too fancy."

"Beautiful," I said, smiling. "Now help me find what I want to wear."

I settled on a purple and black dress, and Cleo did my purple eye shadow. I loved how it turned out in the end. Now all we had to do was wait until 6:30 when we'd be leaving.

_-Rikki POV-_

I peeked through the curtain, and into the sea of buzzing people. Somehow, I managed to see Emma, Cleo and Lewis sitting in the audience. I also spotted Violet and Jenna, sitting a bit to the back, on opposite walls of each other. I frowned. Now, that was weird.

I searched and searched for the one person I was looking for. It was a miracle how no one in the crowd spotted me. I looked until it was five minutes until the show. There was no sign of my father.

I sighed, turning my back to the curtain. I fingered my dress. Somehow, the play wouldn't seem the same without him.

"Second thoughts?" Zane asked, sneaking up behind me and tangling his arms around me. "You know, that's what under studies are for."

"No, it's just...no. I'm looking forward to this." I smiled. I would just go on without him.

"If you're sure," Zane said in a mock voice.

"One minute, everyone off stage!" cried Mrs. Peters, a helper for the play. Zane kissed my cheek and retreated off the stage. I sighed, but took my place on stage. I smiled a big, huge smile as the curtain fell away.

_-Emma POV-_

We were all hushed when the curtain opened, revealing Rikki, and only Rikki. Cleo and I watched intently.

She seemed to freeze for a second after seeing all of us. But she soon got over her standard case of stage fright and carried the show on.

Rikki was incredible at her lines; I was really believing in her character and acting. I didn't think they could have picked a better person to play her role.

In the middle of the play, a boy I recognized as a kid in my history class. His name was either David or Dante, I wasn't really sure. He was talking to Rikki, when he said, "Well, I am just saying...uh..."

Rikki looked fearful of the whole play being ruined, but she quickly saved the day by saying, "What were you saying? That John's a bad influence on me?"

"Right!" he had exclaimed, and carried on his lines flawlessly.

Not long after that, my phone buzzed. I didn't want to tear my eyes away from the play, but I did, and read the message with great fright:

_One mermaid gone, let's watch the next meet her downfall, shall we?_

_-B_

"Oh, God," I whispered, and quickly showed Cleo the message.

She gasped. "Does B mean..."

"Rikki," we whispered at the same time. At once, we both stood up.

"Where are you guys going?" Lewis whispered to us.

"Bathroom," Cleo said. She kissed Lewis. "One second, 'kay?"

We hurriedly rushed out and onto the back of the stage, where the teachers blocked us.

"It's an emergency!" cried Cleo. "Please! We need to get Rikki off that stage!"

It didn't matter anyway, because soon Rikki was walking off stage, the play finished. Rikki spotted us and waved us over.

"Guys, you missed the last part! It was the best! Zane dies!" She laughed gleefully in mock of her boyfriend.

"No, Rikki, we came back to get you off stage. Look." I thrust my phone at her and she read it, horror splattered on her face.

"Maybe B was just trying to worry us over nothing," Cleo said. "I'm going to go find Lewis. Good job Rikki!" Cleo gave her a congratulations smile and waved goodbye.

"Want to help me remove my three layers of makeup?" Rikki asked, pointing to her face, the job done by the makeup artists.

"Sure," I said uncertainly, still puzzled over the confusing message.

Rikki led me back to her makeup table. She seemed to be glowing with pride and joy, and that strengthened when she saw the bouquet of flowers arranged on her table.

"Oh!" she said. "Aw, I bet they're from dad, he's so nice." Rikki picked them up, and was about to lean in to smell them, when I cried, "Rikki!" and smacked them out of her hand.

"What?" she said irritably. She bent down to pick the spilled flowers up, but I stopped her.

"Look," I pointed to the ground, which was engulfed in pretty red roses, but that was not all. Within the bouquet, some sticking up from it, were poison ivy leaves.

"Oh my God," Rikki breathed. "I don't think this is from dad."

"There's a card," I said, pointing it out. Rikki carefully bent down and picked it up.

She read, "Sorry I couldn't have stayed for the final scene, but I hoped this would make up for it. Signed with hate, B."

"Check to see who's not here!" I cried, and we raced to the stage. It was too late; three quarters of everybody were gone, including Cleo and Lewis.

"Oh my God," Rikki said again, this time looking at her hands, that could have been infected. Oh my God was right.

OoOoO

"Thirsty?" Jenna asked. I nodded politely.

It was about midnight, and Jenna and I had just watched a scary movie (it would probably keep me up for a week at the least) and now we were gossiping over popcorn and candy.

When Jenna was gone to get drinks, I ventured over her room. I found makeup, jewelry, family pictures, the usual. But I found something unusual on her desk, hidden beneath clothes and books.

It was a spell book. I was excited, so I flipped through a few pages. I found a "How to Find a Lost Love" spell, "Vanishing" potions, and "How to Ward Off Evil Spirits." I was looking into beauty spells when I heard, "Having fun?" I spun around to see Jenna, two tall glasses at hand.

"Sorry," I said, sliding the book back in place.

"Nothing bad about curiosity," Jenna said, handing me a drink. "Its iced tea."

I drank a long, cool sip, feeling hot in Jenna's stuffy room. I coughed, feeling my throat grow scratchy.

"Okay?" Jenna said casually, sipping her own drink.

"Mmhm," I said, not being able to talk. But I didn't feel so good.

The heat started to chock me, and the iced tea I was drinking wasn't helping. The room started to spin, my head started to hurt.

"Jenna?" I asked, barley having it escape my lips.

"Yes?" she replied.

I couldn't answer, because I was spinning in darkness, and I felt myself falling, falling, falling.

**A/N: Sooo hoped you enjoyed the faster update (and the chapter, of course.) I'm still open to anyone who needs a beta reader; I could beta any story. PM if interested. If I don't update by Thanksgiving, Happy Thanksgiving! Ciao!**


	13. Chapter Eleven: Sacrifice to Achieve

A/N: Sorry for late update. Thanks for the reviews and enjoy this chapter.

**Chapter Eleven: Sacrifice to Achieve**

"_Without mysteries, life would be very dull indeed. What would be left to strive for if everything were known?"_

_-Charles de Lint_

_-Emma POV-_

"Emma?" said a wavering, echoing voice. I wanted to call out, call for help. I was incredibly hot. I was burning up, possibly dying, and I felt strange. I tried to sit up, but my body objected, staying in place, generating even more heat. I tried to wiggle my toes, but even they sent a wave of heat throughout my body.

I decided lying still and waiting for this to all be over was the best idea, since moving didn't help.

"Emma? Emma!" I felt the shaking, my head bobbing this way and that. I wanted to shout at her to stop, it hurt. Wait, who was she?

Jenna, I decided. Yeah, I was in her room at the time. I was, wasn't I? Sleepover. We were having a sleepover. And she left to get drinks, and I drank her iced tea. I got hot, then the iced tea didn't help, and I guess that was where I was now. I was 90% sure that was what happened, the other 10% of me debating if that happened a week ago.

I heard mumbling on the other side of the room. Great, there went my hearing! But all of a sudden I bolted upright, and instead of a heat flash going through me it was a wave of cold, which I gladly welcomed. I spotted Jenna in the corner of the room.

"Emma!" Jenna cried, pushing a heavy book off her lap and racing towards me. "Are you okay?"

"I...I think?" I said confused. Frankly, I had no idea how long it had been. Perhaps 10 minutes? Or an hour? I didn't know.

I put a hand up to my forehead, and I cleverly retracted. I was burning up!

"I have aspirin downstairs. Want some?" Jenna offered. I nodded quickly.

While she went to go get it, I decided on another tactic. I put my hand about an inch off my radiating forehead, and ever so slowly cooled it down. It felt good, and I stopped after I was at about a good temperature.

"Got it," Jenna said, rushing back in with aspirin and a glass of water. I took the aspirin greedily and drunk down the water like an alcoholic with some beer.

I then noticed the huge stain in Jenna's carpet next to me. Next to the stain was the glass cup that belonged to me.

"Crap, the iced tea!" I yelled, picking up the cup. "I'm so sorry."

Jenna shushed me. "Quiet, don't wake the neighbors!" she whisper yelled. "And I know; when you were out you knocked over the glass. It's okay, really."

"No, it's not. Here, I'll clean it up," I offered.

Jenna wordlessly grabbed a carpet cleaner spray and two rags. Together, we worked on the stain.

"So," I said, scrubbing, "How long was I out?"

"Two minutes," Jenna said absentmindedly. "Would have been longer if I hadn't used a spell..."

"Spell?" I said curiously. "You used a spell?"

She nodded. "To wake you up, yes. I think this is as good as it will get." I realized she was talking about the carpet. I peered down.

We had effortlessly gotten it mostly out, but it was still visible. You probably would not be able to see it if you were not looking for it.

Suddenly, Jenna yawned. "Tired?" I asked.

"Yeah. Want to get to bed?" she inquired. I nodded.

We climbed in our sleeping bags. Jenna slept on the right side of her bed and I slept on the left (she insisted I wouldn't be sleeping on the floor alone.)

It wasn't long until I heard Jenna doze off, her breathing slowing. But I was still wide awake, staring at her white ceiling. I had only one thought running through my head at the moment.

What was it that caused me to faint? I really didn't know why. I didn't have that much time to dawdle on the subject, though, because before that I knew it I had dropped out of my body and into a dreamland.

OoOoO

White. Pure white. All around me. I felt it, dripping on the nonexistent walls, on the floor, and on the ceiling. Everything was white, and I supposed it was meant to have a "good and pure" atmosphere, but it didn't. No, it felt more sinister than anything.

I looked down at myself. My eyes drifted to my dress—it too was white. The sleeves went halfway down my arms, and then flowed at my elbows. It went down to my ankles, where I was wearing white sandals. They framed my perfectly pale feet.

"Cleo," I heard being called. I looked up, and into the pale, cold and blue eyes of the person I least expected to see.

"Oh, Emma," Bella said, as if expecting to see Cleo and not me. "I thought…never mind."

"Where are we? How are you here?" I was astounded. Bella was dead, right? So why was she here, standing right in front of me?

One thing I realized was that Bella had on the same dress as me. It was exactly the similar to mine, same length sleeves, flowing at the end, dress ended the same, and the waist pulled tight around her stomach. But there was one difference: her dress was black.

She caught me staring at it, and then shrugged. "It's a way of distinguishing between the living and the dead. Apparently I'm evil, and you're good." She looked me over. "I don't know why I got inside your head; I was trying for Cleo's."

"In…inside my head?" I said, stuttering. "How is that possible?"

"You're dreaming, Emma," she said simply. "I had to figure out a few tricks to get here."

My stomach felt uneasy. For a brief second I thought I was going to wake up, but I willed myself to stay. "Why are you here?" I asked. "Does this mean you really are dead?"

She let out a long breath through her nose. "Yes, it means I really am dead. And I need your help," she said, as if it pained her. "It's obvious that someone is taking my place, sending you, Rikki and Cleo threatening messages. I think it's the same person who murdered me."

"Do you know who did it?" My voice was barely audible, hardly over a whisper.

She sighed. "Sadly, no. I don't really remember, actually."

"So you want us to try to find the fraud? Because, believe me, we're trying," I insisted.

"No," she said firmly. "I actually don't care if you bust the fraud by ways of the police."

"You don't want to avenge your death? Why?" I asked.

"It's not like it will change anything," Bella said. "I just want him or her to know what they did was wrong, and that karma will always be against them…you know, what goes around, comes around, right?"

"That's it?" I asked. "No, we have to do more than that, right?"

"Believe me, if I wanted more, I'd say so," Bella insisted. "But instead…." She stopped. "Oh."

"What?" I suddenly realized that the white room was spinning, but my sandaled feet stood in place where I was standing.

"You're waking up," Bella said. "Just remember what I said, okay? Don't…don't…hey, I'm sorry? Okay?" Bella's words were swirled with her.

"What?" I wanted to call out. I wanted more information. The mere minutes I spent with her were not enough.

But the room twirled, and I watched as the black dress Bella wore swirled with the room. The black mixed in with the white, almost like paint. Eventually the whole room turned to light grey, and my eyes opened.

I expected to be blinded by the white of Jenna's ceiling, but instead I was used to it, and simply sat up in my sleeping bag.

I walked over to Jenna, only to find her sleeping bag empty and the aroma downstairs wafting up to her room overpowering. I walked downstairs to find her picking up her pan from the stove and shoving something black and burnt in the trash can. "Shit," she swore, closing the trash bin. She suddenly noticed me, then her smile widened. "Oh, hi Emma. Sorry you had to see this; I'm not used to cooking without magic." She looked at the empty table and frowned. She then asked, "May I?"

"By all means," I said. In truth, I wanted to see a bit of her magic for myself.

She pointed to the table, muttered a couple words, and the table was suddenly filled with breakfast foods. "Take your fill," she said. "I have nothing to do with the rest."

I sat down, and realized, my mouth watering, that I was severely hungry. The last thing I had eaten was the half slice of pizza for dinner last night at Jenna's, but that was just because I was too upset for what went on at the play to eat much of anything else.

I scanned the table, which was piled high with pancakes (plain, blueberry or chocolate chip), waffles, muffins, eggs, bacon, fruit, bagels, hot and warm cereals, toast, omelets, cinnamon rolls, French toast, and yogurt. At the middle of the table were pitchers full of milk, apple juice and orange juice.

I poured myself some orange juice and started off by eating a piece of toast, which was just about the best toast I had ever tasted in my entire life. I guessed that magic conjured food was better than regular.

After breakfast, I received a buzz in my phone. I drew it out and saw:

_Rikki's place? Half an hour? She seems like she needs help_

_-Cleo_

I brushed the crumbs off my hands and gave a quick reply. I looked up at Jenna, who had waved her hand over the table, resulting in a spotless table.

"I should go," I said, pulling down my pajama shorts. "Rikki needs me. I'm going to go get dressed, okay?" Jenna nodded quickly.

I dragged my still tired body upstairs, and got to Jenna's room. There, I rolled up my sleeping bag and tied it up. I then dug around in my suitcase for new clothes, which I hurriedly threw on in the bathroom. I went back to Jenna's room after this to grab my suitcase.

In the midst of this, I spotted something in the corner of her room. Me, being as curious as I was, stepped over and observed it. It was a book of spells. It was probably left there last night after she had leafed through it for a spell to wake me up.

I turned my ear up and listened for any sound of movement. I heard Jenna rustling downstairs, and I deemed the coast clear. I opened the book, my eyes landing on the wonderfully written words. I flipped a few pages, and found spells that would make my life amazing, spells that would make other lives miserable, and spells to make my worst enemies wish that they had never even lived.

I urged myself to keep looking, all while listening for any sounds of movement. I was intrigued by the variety of spells. I had to admit it, it was interesting.

I kept flipping until my eyes laid upon something that made my heart leap with joy: A revenge spell. I spell designed so perfectly that whoever was truly the culprit of a bad deed would pay. Bad.

It was perfect. I could get Bella's revenge, couldn't I? I owed her that much after what happened that day a year ago.

But hadn't she said no revenge? No locking them up in prison? Just this person recognizing what they did was _wrong_? After all, it was what Bella said. Or what I thought she said.

_That's it,_ I figured with a smile. The _real_ Bella would _want_ revenge, of course. The Bella in my dream was just that; a figment of my imagination. It was just my guilty conscience talking. But there was one last problem.

I sure couldn't do a spell. I wasn't a witch, dark or good. So how was I supposed to do this?

My eyes laid on the words I was looking for, printed in normal lettering between the title of the spell and the instructions. It said, plainly, _**Any magical creature can perform this spell.**_

Well, mermaids counted as magical.

I ripped the page out of the book ruthlessly. The page glowed red as the book glowed blue. I thought I was imagining it, but before I got time to investigate, it stopped glowing altogether.

I panicked as I heard footfalls nearing the room. I carefully folded (crumpled) the paper and stuck it in my pocket.

Jenna entered the room. "Hey, ready?" she asked. I nodded, slinging my bag over on shoulder and heading out the room.

There was a quick good bye exchange as I left her house, taking no long ways en route to Rikki's house. I found Rikki's and knocked three times on the door.

Her dad opened the door, looking tired and worn out. He smiled—as if it were an effort—and said, "Sorry, Rikki's gone to Cleo's house."

"Oh," I said. Hadn't the text said Rikki's place? "Okay, thank you."

He nodded quickly and shut the door. I grabbed the suitcase I had set down before me and began to jog away.

I made it to Cleo's house, and then knocked on _her_ door. Cleo answered her door.

"Come in," she said, stepping aside to let me slither by.

Once inside the enclosed house, I asked, "I thought we were going to Rikki's?"

She looked at my funny. "Didn't you get the other text? I said there was a change of plans, and to come here."

I whipped out my phone, and sure enough, there was a text from Cleo, stating to come to her house. I shrugged, pocketing the device. I probably didn't hear it vibrating in my pocket. "Where's Rikki?" I asked.

Cleo pointed to the ceiling, indicating upstairs. So I dropped my suitcase on the ground and made my way upstairs.

There, I went into Cleo's room (with her tailing me close behind) and found Rikki sitting on her bed. She had on an extremely ugly shirt with long sleeves, and oven mitts.

"Nice fashion trend. Can I try?" I asked jokingly, jumping on the bed. My voice startled Rikki, as she jumped and turned to me.

"Oh, hi," she said in a monotone voice.

"What's up with you?" I asked, narrowing my eyebrows.

"Rikki's in a bad mood," Cleo said knowingly.

"Why is Rikki in a bad mood?" I asked, rolling on the bed to face Cleo instead.

"Rikki is right here," said Rikki, raising a oven mitted hand in the air, appearing as if trying to point her finger down at her. "And I'm in a bad mood because of this."

She stood up, rolling up both of her sleeves (which was hard because of her oven mitts) and showed both of her forearms to me.

At first I didn't see it, and then I did: dozens of tiny little red swelling bumps were covering her arms. They were all evenly spaced, and looked as if they itched really badly.

"The poison ivy," I said knowingly, and Rikki nodded, shoving her sleeves back down with great difficulty.

"It started on my hands last night, and when I woke up they were covering my arms as well," said a pissed off Rikki. "It just keeps spreading."

Just as she said that, my phone vibrated in my pocket. I plucked it out and pushed it open, all while feeling sorry for Rikki. I opened the text message I had just received, and was met with:

_Don't stand too close, you might catch Bitch Disease_

_-B_

I shook my head mournfully, putting the phone back. "B," I said to Cleo and Rikki, who looked like they wanted to see who the text was from. "Just getting on my nerves again."

"I've had enough with this B character," Cleo said. "You know what?" She took out her phone, shut it off, and threw it in her top dresser drawer with a loud bang. "Who's joining me?"

"What, you mean give up our phones?" Rikki asked in awe, as if Cleo were such a badass for just suggesting such a forbidden thing.

"No, not forever at least. Just for a week, how does that sound? I think we can survive a week without our phones. It gives us some space to breathe without B. Just think: a whole week, no B!" Cleo smiled triumphantly.

"But she can still contact us through notes in our lockers and things like that," I pointed out.

"Yes, but it's much easier to ignore that then a text message. We can just crumple it up and throw it away. A text, we have to ignore it, and then we still have it in our inbox. So we go to delete it, and end up reading it anyways. This makes our lives better, I swear." I knew Cleo was trying to egg us on, and it was visibly working in both Rikki and I.

"I still don't know," Rikki said.

"After this," Cleo started, "We can go back to B's bitchiness, I promise. One week. That's it." She raised her eyebrows. "Are you in?"

"I am," I said, clearing my throat with a cough. I threw my turned off phone in the drawer with Cleo's. "It's time that we have some times to ourselves."

"Okay," Rikki gave up with a defeated sigh, and tried to shut off her phone, but to no avail with her big gloves. Cleo helped her out, pressing the small button then putting it in the dresser drawer with the others.

Cleo walked over and shut the door with a satisfactory bang, then unearthed a small pocket key from beneath her jewelry box. "Never used it anyway," she muttered, locking the drawer.

"Don't lock it," Rikki said quickly. "What if you lose the key?"

"I won't," Cleo said confidently. "See?" She attached the key to her charm bracelet, and slipped it on. "Now it will always be on me, which means it won't get lost."

"Okay," Rikki said, sinking back a bit. "One week, right?"

"Right," Cleo agreed.

There was a dead silence in the room, and I was about to fill it in with details of my vivid dream of Bella, but stopped myself. Should I even explain? I mean, I was positive this morning that it was all a hoax and my crazy head had made up the fact that Bella was there. I agreed with myself to keep my mouth shut—for now. But instead, I brought up the paper that was well hidden in my pocket.

"Hey, guys, look what I got from Jenna's spell book," I said, producing the revenge spell from my pocket. I quickly explained what it was.

"Wow, and Jenna let you borrow that?" Cleo asked in shock.

I hesitated. What should I tell—the truth or lies? "Of—of course," I said, stuttering so much that Cleo looked at me funny, but just shook her head and snatched the revenge spell from my clutches.

"What's it for?" Rikki asked, staring deeply into the spell.

I snorted. "Hello? It's for Bella's revenge, is what." Inside (deep, deep inside) I knew it was wrong. But I was too twisted with hatred for Bella's murderer that I didn't care too much.

"I don't know," Cleo said. "I don't think a revenge spell is really—up my alley." She said this nervously, as if afraid of startling me.

I blew air through my nose. "Well, how about this? If we feel the need to use it, we do."

Cleo seemed a lot keener to that idea. She opened the drawer with her charm bracelet and threw the spell in there along with our phones.

"I should be going," I said, standing up off the bed. "See you guys later."

"How about tomorrow, JuiceNet at one?" Cleo asked. "I would've texted you with the plans tomorrow, but…you know…" She gazed lovingly at her dresser drawer, as if regretting ever bringing up the idea of locking them away for a week.

"Right," I said chirpily. "Tomorrow. One. Got it."

Cleo seemed to be done with our conversation, so she just waved a hand at me and said, "You know the way out." I nodded, leaving the room.

I heard two voices saying, "Bye, Emma," as I shut the door behind me.

The trip back home went by slowly, as I was wasting time by walking at a much slower pace than the one I used to get to Cleo's house, and by stopping every couple moments to adjust the suitcase slung on my shoulder.

When I finally got home, I turned the brass doorknob, waiting to be in the luxury of my home, but only to be greeted with two angry parent faces. "Where were you?" my dad demanded. "I called you three times! I sent you a text that you were supposed to be home an hour ago!"

I sighed, my phoneless pocket calling out to me louder than ever. This was going to be one hell of a week.

OoOoO

_-Cleo POV-_

The warmness of my bath coupled with the aroma of lavender in the air just sung me a heavenly lullaby as I drifted to sleep. My huge, bronze orange tail taking up more than half the bath seemed a distant dream now, the only thing keeping me from being totally asleep was the annoying ticking of the clock plastered on the wall opposite me.

I wasn't sure if I was completely submerged in sleep after a few minutes. I had only just stepped into the bath. I didn't really want to know, because if I discovered I was asleep I'd be jerked back to reality.

I began to dream. I dreamt that I was being pushed into the ocean off a dock, by a masked person. Underwater, my arms flailed around me, trying to swim in the icy cold water, but failing miserably. I looked down at my feet, which were still done up in Converse, no tail. Wasn't it supposed to be there already?

I didn't think I could hold my breath for longer. My eyes clouded over and I began to sink, farther, farther…

I awoke with a jolt, electric energy shooting through me as I shot up like a dolphin in water. I hit my head on the spout water came out of into the bath in the process, leading me to cry out in pain, coughing water out of my mouth. My eyes were blocked with water, and I brushed it out of my eyes, and felt the part of my head that hit the faucet, noticing my hair was very wet.

Blood was what my hand came back with. I silently cursed to myself. I must have had that dream because I had sunk under the water of the bath. It was my body's way of waking me up before I drowned a mermaid in my own bath. Oh, the irony.

I glanced at the ticking clock, which was covered with multi colored fish. It read 12:47 pm.

I realized I was supposed to be at the JuiceNet in thirteen minutes. I unplugged the drain to the bath, watching the water swirl like a tornado down it. There, I dried myself off after getting out of the tub.

I flew out the door in an instant, grabbing my bag and slamming the front door behind me in a mad tornado fashion.

I arrived at the JuiceNet a couple minutes shy of one, and as I entered I spotted Emma and Rikki in a booth in the corner of the café. I noticed Rikki was wearing long sleeve again, but regular gloves instead of oven mitts.

I slid into the booth with them and said, "Hey guys, what did I miss?"

_-Emma POV-_

"Nothing really," I said absentmindedly, stirring my juice. "How are you coping without a phone?"

"Eh," Cleo said. "I'm going to go order a juice."

"Grab me another blueberry?" Rikki asked, sliding aside her first. Cleo nodded, accepting the notes Rikki gave her to pay for the juice.

As Cleo left, Violet and Will emerged, hand in hand. They were talking to each other, Violet giggling at something and flipping her hair, Will nodding and smiling along with her. They glanced at us, and Violet turned back to Will, said something and laughed. Will chuckled along with her. They walked over to our table.

"Hey Rikki, hey Emma," Violet said, her eyes gleaming. "Where's the rest of the gang?"

"Cleo's getting juices," Rikki said, already knowing who she meant. She motioned up to the cashier table, where Cleo stood, tapping her fingers impatiently while waiting for her drinks.

"So Rikki," Violet said, addressing the blonde, "You're play was really good. You're acting? Totally believable." She flashed a pearly white smile at Rikki.

"Sorry I couldn't make it," apologized Will. "Busy, you know?"

"Yeah, I know," Rikki said with a slight smile.

"How long did you practice for it?" Violet asked the innocent question.

I couldn't take it anymore. I felt anger, anger boiling inside me like I'd never felt before. I felt huge explosions of unknown fury popping up one at a time, and I didn't know why. It was like there was some unrelated magnetic attraction between Violet and I; but not a good one. I couldn't hold it in anymore.

"Bitch," I snorted, rolling my eyes at the brunette.

"Huh?" she asked, surprised at my little outburst.

I clapped my hand over my big, fat mouth. Where the hell did that come from? "Oh, I'm so sorry," I apologized, feeling a bit better that moment. Then, my mind decided to change for the worse. "No, actually, I'm not sorry. Who the hell do you think you are?" I demanded.

"I have no idea what you're talking about!" cried Violet, Will putting protective arms around her waist.

"Seriously? You brat," I spat.

"Emma," Rikki said warningly, but somewhat pleadingly.

I knew deep down what I was doing was wrong, but I was so overcome by emotions at the moment that it didn't matter. "Why don't you just leave?" I asked, and at that moment, I knew I had no control over my body. I picked up my half empty glass of strawberry juice, and threw the remaining liquids straight at Violet, drenching her and getting some on Rikki in the process.

Violet let out a small cry, and staggered back. Will hurriedly led Violet out of the store, while Rikki tried to dry off the glob of juice on her shirt, but she knew it was no use. She got up and began to rush off towards the bathroom, not wanting to sprout a tail in the middle of The JuiceNet Café over a simple strawberry juice.

"Got the drinks," Cleo said cheerfully, oblivious to what had just happened. She set down her and Rikki's drinks, and then noticed Rikki disappearing into the bathroom and Violet and Will walking out of the store. "Damn, what did I miss _this_ time?"

It was meant to be a joke, but at the time I was too busy being absolutely mortified to actually attempt to laugh. I was beginning to piece together what had just happened, but by then I just got up and began to leave the building as well as Will and Violet, leaving Cleo behind. On the way out, I could have sworn I saw the mischievous eyes of Jenna White.

OoOoO

My head in my knees, I couldn't get over my embarrassment that was brought on by some strange force inside of me. I silently counted to ten, promising myself that by then I'd put my face out from in between my knees and face the real world. But every time I got to ten, I chickened out and began my counting again.

"You're going to have to come out of your shell sometime," a voice advised me wisely.

I pulled my head up to be met by the purple walls of Jenna's room. I turned to her and sighed. "Oh, Jen, if you were there you'd understand why I'm so humiliated."

She rolled her eyes. "I _was_ there, remember? I had just walked in and got a juice, sat at a table in the corner and then saw you. I was going to get up and join you but you were talking to Will and Violet so I decided to lie off until they were gone. I told you this, remember?"

I scrunched my face up in deep thought. "Oh, yeah, I think I saw you on the way out."

Jenna pulled up her magazine that was in her hands, burying her nose in celebrities. "Mm hm."

"What do you think made me do that?" I asked, tilting my head sideways and studying her poster covered walls.

"No idea," Jenna said, intent on reading the material in her hands.

"Perhaps I was sick and my head was screwed on the wrong way," I said. "That would explain it. Mental illness. Hah, what do you think?" I looked at Jenna.

"Yep, fabulous, you've got it all worked out," Jenna said, not really paying much attention to me.

"Hey, do you think it was the iced tea that did the trick?" I asked. Now _that_ seemed to get Jenna's attention.

Her head snapped up and she said, "What about the iced tea?"

"Was that what made me sick?" I asked again.

"I don't think so," she said, settling back into her reading material full of gossip and lies. "You were probably just sick before that, and that's why you fainted."

I thought about that. I _had_ fainted, and that was a major suspicion on my case. There had to be _something_ wrong with me, right?

I thought harder. But what had caused that? I was still thinking about the iced tea. Surely it had some factor. But there was nothing wrong with it. It was just a regular iced tea Jenna had whipped up. Unless….

"Jenna?" I said to the distracted teenager.

"Yes?" she asked, putting her magazine down for a moment.

"Could you have possibly…accidentally…put a spell on the iced tea?" I asked cautiously, as if too quickly would hurt her feelings.

She hesitated for a second before answering. "Of course not."

"Or did you mean to?" I questioned, pushing the matter a bit farther.

"Emma, I would never put a spell on you," Jenna insisted, pushing her magazine away.

"What about when you put a spell on me to wake me up?" I enquired. This was all too coincidental to have nothing to do with the tea.

"That was a different story," Jenna claimed. "I wouldn't do that to you unless it was an emergency like that."

I clenched my jaw shut, almost not saying what I wanted to. But as I thought, it all came spilling out anyway. "Or maybe you don't care about when or where you do spells. Or _who_ you do them on."

"That's ridiculous," scoffed Jenna, picking her magazine back up.

"But it makes sense," I muttered silently, not intending to be heard, but my wishes were not granted.

"In what way?" asked Jenna, now getting a bit mad.

Then I said something that changed everything. Something that I didn't think twice about when saying, but it sure did make sense when I said it. Something that made Jenna herself drop her magazine in shock. "Jenna, are you a dark witch?"

**A/N: And that ladies and gentlemen, ends chapter eleven. If you do not read my H2O: What If? story, then you will not know that I was thinking about writing an interactive adventure story. Well, I decided to go through with it. So watch out for that. So, I'll try to update soon enough on this story, writing it again gave me a huge idea for where I want to go with it and a bunch of twists I want to add. I think this story is going to go to twenty chapters. Just an assumption, though, of course. So until then, I hope you had a nice Christmas, and Happy MLK Day. Ciao!**


	14. Author's Note

Hi everyone,

Wow, has it really been that long since I've updated? Gosh, I last uploaded in January and now it's July! Happy 4th, by the way. Anyway, I want to apologize greatly and sincerely for not updating. I've had a lot of things going on, and I just could not come up with any inspiration for writing. A writer's rut, if you will. But not a day went on without me thinking, "Oh, it's been so long since I've updated, perhaps I should write…" but it seems I never did. Well, here we are, seven months later with my pathetic excuses.

So, I would very much like to start writing this story again and maybe my other What if? one. But there are times when I look back at this story and go, "What was I thinking when I wrote this?" If I am to continue this story, I would want to edit it. No major changes, but definitely enough so it isn't so amateur anymore. Or I could dump this story and start another one, which most likely won't be in the H2O section. But who knows? I might write one in this section.

I guess I'm going to end this author's note with two things. One: another apology. I'm so sorry I've been so inactive on this account, no writing or reviewing, but I hope I'm back (whenever I get free time, that is.) Two: this leaves you guys with a choice. Continue this story (and if I do, I WILL edit it first) or not, and start another. I'll talk to you guys later (hopefully!) Please leave a review as to what you want me to do. Bye!


	15. Quick AN and situation update

Hi everyone.

First off, I would like to apologize if anyone thought that this was a story update, despite me not updating for over a year now (and even that was just an author's note that I never fulfilled.) Needless to say, I have abandoned this story, even though I absolutely hate it when people do the same to their stories. I'm not even sure if anyone at all cares about this story anymore, considering it's pretty irrelevant to the H2O fan fiction now and I think that any old readers have been flushed out and replaced with new authors by now. I mean, perhaps there are still some remaining, but I don't know.

No, I am not updating this story to say that I am continuing this story personally, but I do want to give you all an update. An author on this site has recently contacted me and asked if they can pick up this story. I said yes.

Her writing style is going to be different than mine. She may keep some of my same plot points, but in a whole the story is going to end up being different than the one I've envisioned. And the ending is going to be different. But, I please ask of you, to treat the author with respect and kindness just as you did with me. I'm excited to see what she comes up with, and hopefully you are too.

I know that (if you read my story and liked it) you were hoping for me to continue this story, but I'm unable to and I don't think I'm going to update to this account again (though I still do beta read occasionally, and I always read everyone's nice comments on my stories no matter if I don't update anymore!) I figured this is a way to give you guys what you want, without me having to continue the story myself. I have been thinking up some story ideas, but most of them don't pertain to H2O and I feel like that was mainly what I did on here, so if I were to carry on with the ideas I'd do it on a new account. And if you're interested, I'll link my new account in my profile (if it happens.)

I feel like that's all I need to say right now. I really hope to continue entertaining readers, but as I've said, just not on this account anymore. At the end of this note I have linked the account of the author who is taking over my story. I'm not entirely sure when she's going to post the first update, but keep in tune with the account for when it happens.

So now I'd like to say have a great day and a wonderful rest of the summer, and I would like to wish you happy reading!

(PS: Before I end this note, I would just like to point out that everything I've done on this account, and everything that I'm going to do, is all dedicated to my wonderful mother. She's my light, and I wanted to take the time to address how amazing she was, before she died in 2009 to breast cancer. I love her, and she's my role model in everything I do. Mom, I hope that you are resting in peace, which is what you deserve :))

Link to ChuckSaysGrrr (my new author's) account / u / 366 7824 / (This is the extension to her profile if you didn't already know. Just trying to get around any censoring here, and even if the address does get messed up, I'm sure you can still find her account by her username posted above :))


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